A friend's courage
by mortal-paralight
Summary: Set in the first two chapters of Shadow Kiss. How far would you go to save your best friend from the fiends that want to kill you? After saying some hurtful things to her best friend, Rose gets captured by Strigoi and Lissa, Dimitri, Christian and Adrian must find her. R&R! HAS BEEN BETA-ED BY DRAGONGIRL323! MUCH BETTER STORY NOW!
1. Preface

**Alright, so this must be a shock to most people out there, but I wanted to put this story back up online, BUT there have been some major adjustments, thanks to my beta, DragonGirl323. She was kind enough to proof read this story and make it that much better, so now, this story is being put back online. Now, this story is exactly the same one. It's just corrected and formulated better than it was done two years ago. **

**Also, I've made this Facebook page in hopes to attract more people to read my stories and get more notice about when I update and such, so here is my link: **

**(Facebook dot com)**/ #! / MortalParalight **(remove the spaces and please fill in the blanks that are written there, i.e.. (Facebook dot com) is the address of Facebook)**

**So now, please READ AND REVIEW!**

**Disclaimer = I don't own Vampire Academy or anything mentioned in here!**

Preface

Friends stick together to the end, no matter what.

That's the saying, isn't it? It's supposed to mean that a friend's bond is supposed to last forever, that your friend will always have your back no matter what. But that isn't the case with me. My body's been beaten, used for food, anything you can gruesomely imagine.

And now I'm alone.

Her words rang in my mind even as my body slowly gave way on itself. My heart broke slowly as the words that truly hurt me all those days ago still rang through my mind as though I was hearing them for the first time. The pain in my heart was nothing compared to the physical pain I had endured. We'd gone through a lot, and I suppose it had to end at some point, but that didn't stop me from wishing for a different outcome. It was nice while it lasted, to know that I could have trusted her with my life for so many years, to have such a best friend through all of the hard times we went through. Once again, it was nice while it lasted.

Even now, in death, those happy memories flooded through me. Death seemed peaceful now, almost welcoming, with these memories so filled with warm light and happy feelings. To think about our last parting would make my death sad and meaningless.

Friends stuck together to the end, no matter what… That's not always the case, not with this story. You'll see why…

**Alright, so what did you guys think of this better preface? I hope that it was more to you guys' liking, seeing as I know that it was badly written in the past. So, if you would be so kind to REVIEW and tell me your opinion, it would be much appreciated. **

**PS: I'm going to remove each older chapter so that you guys can read the new ones and feel like it's a normal story (meaning that you'll have to wait for each chapter)**

**Mortal-paralight**

3


	2. Harsh Words

**Alright, so I don't want you guys biting my head off for this late chapter. My wonderful beta, DragonGirl323, needed the time to be with her husband, who had been deployed for a while, and I gave her what she needed. Now, she has been gracious enough to send me the edited version and, like I said, it's better than the first version. So please read and review this chapter and let me know what you thought.**

**Disclaimer = I don't own Vampire Academy.**

Chapter 1

Harsh Words

**Rose's Point of View**

Would my luck ever change?

Today had seemed like a good day so far. There was a small amount left of snow and ice left on the ground, indicating that winter would soon pass into spring. There was simply one more day before classes would end before the field experience—six weeks of us novices working to become guardians and prove our worth before we graduated in late June—and everyone was incredibly excited, even me. Life had gone back to normal after the Christmas chaos…

Well, that's what I thought.

My name's Rosemarie Hathaway, Rose for short. I'm a dhampir, half human-half Moroi, and I've dedicated my life to protect Moroi, or better yet, mortal vampires. Why do I call them _mortal_ vampires? Because Moroi are born, can grow, and die at an old age, just like humans and dhampirs. They specialize in one of the four elements: fire, earth, air, or water. But there are some who don't specialize in one of the four, but in a different type of element: spirit, magic that sucks energy from the Moroi's own life force every time they use their powers. As I've said, these Moroi are mortal. But there are some Moroi who want—or, in retrospect, don't want—to become immortal. In doing so, they become a different kind of vampire called Strigoi.

Strigoi live for eternity, and there are two ways to become Strigoi. Way number one, a Moroi willingly drains a human of their blood and that triggers the transformation. Way number two, a Strigoi could drink from a human and then make a Moroi drink from said Strigoi. The second way is unwilling, but the first is willing. It was either you _wanted _to become Strigoi and be immortal, or you didn't and were forced to.

Either way, not very pleasant. Your soul changes and becomes animalistic. You're unable to even think straight. You turn into a beast of the night, literally.

We guardians—or novices training to become guardians—protect the Moroi from Strigoi. We dedicate our lives to keep the Moroi from turning Strigoi or being killed, ending the Moroi race and eventually the dhampir race as well. You see, dhampirs are made from Moroi men hooking up with dhampir women who wanted to raise children instead of fighting Strigoi. You'd think we would be three quarters Moroi, but you're wrong. We're perfectly half and half. But that's another story that I don't want to get into right now. Much too sensual for my taste to imagine others 'doing it'.

Anyway, you have the general idea of the kind of people I'm surrounded by.

But there's one special Moroi I'd like to talk about. My best friend, Vasilisa Dragomir. She likes to go by Lissa. She's the last of the Dragomir royal line. And she's the Moroi that I'm sworn to protect, even though I haven't graduated yet. But there's no doubt that the other guardians will assign me to her. You see, our case is kind of special. We have a bond. Not just in friendship, but a bond that connects our spirits together. It might sound cheesy, but it's true. A few years ago, Lissa, her parents, her brother and I were in a car accident. Unfortunately, her parents and brother died in the accident and apparently, so did I. But Lissa healed me using spirit and a bond was created between the two of us. It allows me to feel what she feels and sometimes enter her mind and see through her eyes. But it's not a two way bond. She can't feel me or get in my head like I can, which makes me the best guardian for her.

At least that's what I thought until today…

Lissa and I were in her room. She was getting ready for her date with her boyfriend, Christian Ozera, and needed my help. Now that she was getting intense with him, we hardly spent any time together to just talk and hang out. Even now, as we stayed in her room, there seemed to be an awkward silence hanging in the air around us.

"You should wear your hair up," I said as she was brushing her magnificent platinum blond hair. Through the bond, Lissa seemed happy. Christian made that feeling shine through her. It also shone through me because of the bond. "Christian will like that."

Lissa laughed and began pulling her hair up in a ponytail. "He'll like anything as long as we're together," she said cheerfully. She was lucky to have a guy who wanted her and loved her the way he did.

I did… sort of. We had our problems, but we knew how one another felt. But we couldn't be together. Dimitri is a guardian at St. Vladimir's Academy and is seven years older than I am. That was one of the problems. The second problem was that he was also assigned to be Lissa's guardian when we both graduated. If we were together, he'd want to protect me more than her. That couldn't happen. _They come first. _It was a guardian saying that Moroi lives came before anything else, even before love. So we put our feelings aside and decided to protect Lissa with everything we had, keeping our love for one another secret. It was a struggle, but we managed to do it so far. I hated keeping things from Lissa. She was my best friend and we could tell each other anything. But this, I couldn't tell her. It would just add too much stress to her life and that would unravel things that we'd worked so hard to keep hidden in her.

"He's kind of changed since last month…" A darkness seemed to make its way through her when mentioning what happened in Spokane.

A Strigoi attack happened last month and Christian, a Moroi named Mia, two novices named Eddie and Mason, and myself had been kidnapped by them. They'd nearly starved all of us and drained Eddie of blood a few times each day we'd been captured. By the end, he'd fallen unconscious. We'd figured out an escape plan, but the two Strigoi who'd captured us figured out our plan, and I barely managed to hold them off. They would have tortured me if Mason hadn't foolishly come back and tried to save me, then…he ended up being murdered. I'd killed both Strigoi in an explosion of rage, but Mason was still dead. That event had changed all of us mentally, even me.

But the darkness that I could feel seeping into Lissa right then worried me. It wasn't natural for her to feel that way. It was almost as if she wanted to say something and get all of that darkness out, but didn't want to do it in front of me.

"What's up, Lissa?" I asked, hoping to relieve some of the darkness that surrounded her.

She put her makeup down on the counter and sighed. "I don't know…" Lissa hesitated, considering whether to tell me or not. If she didn't, I could always go into her mind and see through the bond, even though I knew she hated it when that would happen.

"Come on, you can tell me," I tried again, seeing what would happen if she did tell me. I hoped she wouldn't make me peak. It wasn't right of me, but sometimes, it simply happened like that. Her emotions at times would become so strong that I would be sucked inside of her unintentionally. But this time, it would be intentional. And that worried me.

_Let's hope she caves…_

She stood up, packing her makeup in a bag and began walking toward the bed where I was sitting. "Never mind. It's nothing," Lissa said, avoiding my gaze. Sighing internally, I opened my mind up to hers and felt for her emotions at the moment. And what I felt made me freeze in horror.

Culpability.

"You blame me for Mason's death." My voice broke when I said it out loud, the words leaving a bad taste in my mouth. My best friend blamed me for his death. It was bad enough that I blamed myself, but to have her blame me as well, it was shocking and hurtful.

Lissa stopped dead in her tracks and turned to face me, clearly outraged. "That's an invasion of my privacy!" she exclaimed, making me stand up and turn to face her. Lissa obviously felt hurt and scandalized, but she should have told me what she felt in the beginning. My feeling of betrayal kept enlarging with every second passing as I stared into her jade coloured eyes.

"You blame me for Mason's death?" I repeated, only this time phrasing it as a question. "How could you? Don't you think I blame myself enough as it is for what happened?"

"I know you do! Which is why you shouldn't have peaked into my feelings!"

"I thought you of all people wouldn't blame me for what happened to Mason."

"Can you really blame me, Rose?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, my anger surging through me now. My best friend, the person I thought would be by my side in these hard times, was against me. How could she?

"Well, think about it, Rose. Mason really liked you and you basically toyed with him. You told me that if you hadn't told him where those Strigoi were, he'd be alive right now. And I'm sorry, but I agree with you," Lissa explained, looking me in the eyes the entire time. Through the bond, I could feel that she felt sad, angered, flustered, the need to blame someone…all negative emotions.

All directed to me.

"I can't believe this…" I said, feeling absolutely betrayed. Turning around quickly, I began pacing, trying to control the anger that threatened to explode from inside of me. "You think I was _toying_ with Mason…"

"Well, you were." This made me stop and turn around to face her. That darkness seemed to expand within her. Maybe it was clouding her emotions at the moment, but…who knows how long she felt this way.

"Excuse me?"

"Mason liked you for so long, and you just used him at the ski lodge either to make Adrian jealous or for your own personal gain."

The mention of Adrian Ivashkov turned my blood cold, especially in this conversation. He was another spirit user we'd met at the ski lodge for Christmas break and he had always tried to get close to me and flirt, even while being drunk, which he was every minute of every day. But to think that Lissa would bring _him_ into this was unbelievable. She didn't know that the reason I couldn't love Mason was because of Dimitri.

"Face it, Rose, none of that would have happened if you'd actually tried to like Mason back," Lissa said, nearly cutting my heart in half.

"You don't know what happened, Lissa."

"That's because you won't tell me anything! We're best friends and you can't even begin to speculate what actually happened? Imagine if Mason had been me. You would have let me be murdered like Mason was? How can I trust that you'll be able to protect me later on? Are you gonna get me killed in the next year? Maybe in the next month, or tomorrow even? How do I know?" Lissa exclaimed, causing me more pain than anything I'd experienced in the past.

I was speechless. How could she even think that? Had that event in Spokane really destroyed her trust in me completely? That shroud of darkness lingered around her mind, but it seemed to get smaller. Probably due to the fact that she took her anger out on me.

"That's not fair, Lissa. You know that you always come first, no matter what."

"I _don't_ know that, actually. What I _do_ know is that Dimitri wouldn't have let Mason die like that. He wouldn't let me die like that."

That pushed me off the proverbial cliff and killed me inside. My face remained emotionless as my free hand went to the chotki Lissa had given me for Christmas and unlatched it from my wrist. Handing it to her, she took it and looked at it before resting her eyes once again onto me. "Then here. Give it to Dimitri. Obviously, I'm not fit to guard anyone, much less you." And with that, I walked out of her room, taking a long walk that would hopefully drown my new sorrows and take my mind off of everything that just happened.

**Lissa's Point of View**

I couldn't help what I said to Rose.

Part of my mind did believe that she was responsible for Mason's death, but that was a very small part of me. How did that small part take over like that? She hadn't deserved to hear that. With all my heart, I knew that what was said was false. She could protect me better than anyone in this entire world, not just because of the bond, but because she _knew_ me as an individual. But that didn't excuse the fact that she had entered my mind without my permission, even though it happened whenever my emotions were much too strong and would force her to enter. But yet, she still deliberately entered just to know what that tiny part of me thought about her, an angry part of me that was unfamiliar to her and myself. I didn't want to tell her what I had just said for this reason. It was hurtful and false. To even imagine Rose thinking that she wasn't good enough to protect me was…unimaginable.

But…if Rose hadn't gone in my mind, then this conversation wouldn't have happened and I wouldn't be clutching the chotki I'd given to only her at Christmas. It was a family heirloom that was meant for my soul guardian, for Rose since she was going to be my guardian in a few short months.

Now, my heart was wondering if she'd even talk to me ever again.

Sighing, my feet robotically went to the lobby to find Christian sitting on the couch in front of the TV, waiting for me. When seeing me, his face lit up and joy filled his features like they always did when we were together. My heart skipped a beat when seeing him, but my mind was still replaying what happened with Rose. I was sure my expression illustrated how upset I was now. He saw it immediately and rushed over to me worriedly.

"I'm guessing the date's cancelled?" he asked, which was just as good as an 'are you all right?' It fit me just fine at the moment, seeing as my mind just kept replaying what had been said in my room and nothing else.

"I'm sorry. I'm just not feeling very well right now," I said, hoping that he would understand. And yet, he nodded and wrapped his arms around me, bringing me closer to him.

"Does it have anything to do with Rose's silent leaving act?" he asked, making my attention turn fully to him. Christian saw my look and knew his question was answered. "Liss, it's none of my business. You can tell me when you're ready." He kissed the top of my head and looked me in the eyes. "I'll leave you to your thoughts for now. If you're ready to talk, you can come and see me. I'll see you soon?" Nodding, he smiled slightly and kissed me passionately in parting, then walked out of the room.

I, on the other hand, went back to my own room and laid on my bed, trying to extinguish the lingering anger I still felt toward Rose for entering my mind just now, while my regret continued to grow.

I'd talk to her tomorrow. Hopefully, everything would work out…

**Alright, so what did you think? Please let me know in some reviews, please.**

**Mortal-paralight**

11


	3. Unexpected

**Ok, so I know that this chapter is a little…late, but I wanted to give my beta, DragonGirl323, enough time to have a good time on her vacation. Now that summer is here, it's probably the time that everyone wants to go on vacation, so I believe that we can all understand this factor, right? Anyways, now that it seems that everything will go back to normal, I believe that I'll be able to update this beta-ed version of **_**A Friend's Courage**_** much faster. Anyways, it's just time for you guys to READ AND REVIEW this chapter! Enjoy!**

**Also, I've made this Facebook page in hopes to attract more people to read my stories and get more notice about when I update and such, so here is my link: **

**(Facebook dot com)**/ #! / MortalParalight **(remove the spaces and please fill in the blanks that are written there, i.e.. (Facebook dot com) is the address of Facebook)**

**So now, once again, please READ AND REVIEW!**

**Disclaimer = I don't own Vampire Academy or anything mentioned in here!**

Chapter 2

Unexpected

**Rose's Point of View**

The snow that was drifting down from the sky didn't bother me as I trudged through the school mechanically. Not many things could hurt me enough to make me feel this way, but Lissa's words had done just that. To think that she could have so little faith in me after all of these years of being there for one another was hard to believe. After all that we went through… It just seemed for nothing now.

Or was this simply a problem that could be fixed on its own with time? My mind was just too preoccupied to even begin trying to feel Lissa's emotions. And besides, with what happened in her room, I don't think that she would want me listening in at all anymore. She was right. It had been an invasion of her privacy, and it was absolutely horrible of me to think that I could go into her head whenever I wanted to. This bond was a gift that shouldn't be used whenever it pleased me. It was quite selfish of me…

Sighing, I approached the gates exiting the school grounds, simply because the silence and isolation of the forest seemed welcoming, but, as I got closer, something caught my eye. Something black; a figure sprawled haphazardly in the snow. Normally my guardian instincts would have kicked in, but in my distressed and numb state, it merely made me curious to see what was there.

Walking slowly toward it, my eye caught a dark substance that was smeared near the black figure. Blood. A small trail of it led to the magic ward that prevented Strigoi from entering the Academy.

What was going on here?

Stepping closer to the figure, I noticed with a jolt of shock that it was Guardian Jean, and her throat was a bloody, shredded mess. It made my stomach turn to see how viciously she'd been killed. Who could have done this?

But the answer was already in my mind: Strigoi.

Looking around, the surrounding forest seemed far too quiet. Not good. My hand reached inside Guardian Jean's pocket to find her silver stake, but something grabbed me from behind and threw me into the guardian tower wall, making my head slam into the stone with a sickening crunch.

I hadn't even seen that coming. I could already hear Dimitri's words ringing in my head. _Never turn your back on the enemy._ I'd done just that.

Trying to keep my hold on the stake, my body slid down to the ground and black spots clouded my vision. Blood trickled down the back of my head and stained my shirt. Looking around, my blurry eyes tried to detect the Strigoi that had attacked me, but I found nothing. As I tightened my hand around the stake, a figure suddenly began running toward me. The Strigoi. I lifted my shaking hand, a slight smile forming on my lips as it came closer.

I could take it out easily.

But what I wasn't expecting was the second Strigoi that appeared to my left. It wrapped its hand tightly around my neck and slammed me into the wall once again, making the stake fall out of my hand and causing my body to go limp. A small moan of pained escaped my lips as the Strigoi let me go. My body slumped to the cold ground and my vision began to blur, the blackness threatening to suck me under.

"Stop. Don't kill her. Gabriel told us to bring her back alive," one of the Strigoi said as my hearing began to fade. A growl emanated through the forest and suddenly, I felt my body being lifted, making me think I was floating.

"She killed Elena and Isaiah. She deserves to die," the other Strigoi said, his voice louder and much clearer. He must be closer to my face than the other one.

"We can't disobey Gabriel or else _we'll _be the ones dead. Just bring her along. Maybe he'll let you kill her."

How did these Strigoi sound so sophisticated? They must be old Strigoi who have lived for a while. That's how Isaiah was. He had lived for a few decades and so became more civilised than a newly turned Strigoi.

Another growl erupted from one of the Strigoi and I was surprised to still be conscious. "Fine, let's just leave. We have what we wanted," the Strigoi closest to me said and jerked forward so hard that unconsciousness finally drew me in and the blackness surrounded me.

**Lissa's Point of View**

The next morning, my anger had dissipated, but the regret I felt over what I said to Rose hadn't. In fact, it had only grown as I slept. My only hope was that I could find her during the day—possibly at lunch—and apologize for yesterday. The heartbroken expression on Rose's face when I'd said all those horrible things to her kept replaying in my mind over and over again. She'd been so hurt... What kind of a best friend was I to hurt her like that?

I'd just have to apologize over and over again until she could forgive me, _if_ she ever forgave me.

Today was the first day of the field experience. Rose would be assigned to me during this exercise—I hoped—and for the next six weeks, she'd be guarding me against fake attacks.

I was walking toward the gymnasium when someone caught my eye. Janine Hathaway, Rose's mom. She was also one of the best guardians around. But...what was she doing here? She was supposed to be protecting a royal family at the moment, not here at the Academy.

When she saw me, her expression worried me. It seemed as though she had been crying, considering her eyes were still a little red. Janine also seemed quite pale, her red hair contrasting with her unnaturally pale skin. Janine walked over immediately and looked up at me, considering that I was much taller than her five foot stature.

"Guardian Hathaway, what's the matter?" I asked worriedly, not liking how she looked.

"Lissa, have you seen Rose anywhere?" she asked, not even bothering to answer my question. It was the first time that Janine had called me by my first name and not Princess. That's what all the guardians called me around here, since I was the last Dragomir alive.

"Um, the last time I saw her was last night." Her expression became sombre when I said that, her mouth straightening into a grim line. Obviously, that's not what she wanted to hear. "Guardian Hathaway, what's going—"

"Everyone take your seats," Alberta, one of the guardians at the Academy, announced gravely. I didn't like the sound of her voice either. What was going on around here?

After taking my seat, our principal, Headmistress Kirova, stepped up to the podium and tried to keep her expression neutral, but there was a hint of sorrow present in her features. Oh no... Something must have happened during the night. But where was Rose? She should be among the novices somewhere, but I couldn't pick her out amongst the sea of faces. Just then, Kirova began speaking.

"It's to my great horror that I must regretfully inform all of you that there was a Strigoi attack just outside the wards last night."

The students began whispering among themselves and some even gasped at this news. As for me, my body became still. A Strigoi attack? Just outside the wards? Then someone could have been hurt or worse... My eyes scanned the room again for Christian, Adrian, and especially Rose. I found Christian a few rows behind me, looking at me with concern. Adrian was sitting in the front row, not looking at me. In fact, he was just staring forward, clearly as shocked as I was. And Rose was nowhere to be seen. My heart clenched and I began to panic. What if she had been hurt or worse...taken? No, she as just somewhere where I couldn't see her. That must be it. She was alright.

Kirova began speaking again, turning all of our attentions towards her. "We've also lost a guardian during the attack. Guardian Jean." Luckily, it wasn't a guardian I was familiar with. But it was still a tragic loss. The guardians on the podium bowed their heads at the mention of their fallen comrade and Kirova continued after her moment of silence.

"A student at this Academy has also been taken by the Strigoi."

My eyes widened in shock. Who could have been taken? And, more importantly, were they still alive? I saw a tear fall from Janine's eyes at Kirova's words and my heart clenched. No... It couldn't be.

"And because of this unfortunate turn of events, we must postpone the field experience until our missing student is returned and the Strigoi have been eliminated from the premises. We are sorry for the late announcement, but matters must be taken seriously and the necessary precautions must be upheld. For now, we will resume classes and try to make the atmosphere of the Academy neutral, even in this grim time. That is all. Please return to your normal schedule and the teachers will follow you all shortly. Thank you," Kirova said before walking away from the podium, leaving us all to our whispering.

The students began filing out and toward their classes, but I hung back. I needed to know. She couldn't have been taken. It wasn't possible. Christian became instantly worried and followed behind me as I walked toward Alberta. Janine and Dimitri were a part of the conversation, both of their faces grim. No! This wasn't possible!

The three guardians spotted me approaching and their expressions instantly turned emotionless. Were they hiding their feelings just for my sake? Just a moment ago, they seemed grim and heartbroken. They were definitely hiding something.

"Princess, what can we—"

"Who was taken?" I asked, interrupting Alberta's question. My heart clenched even more when Dimitri looked down and Janine looked away, both of them purposely hiding their faces from me. No, no, no! This couldn't be happening.

"Lissa, I don't think we should—"

"Who was taken?!" I asked, my voice rising with panic.

Alberta sighed and her next words made my blood freeze in my veins. "It was Rose."

8


	4. Guilt

**Ok, so here is the third chapter for this updated story. I've been asked this a few times and, just to let you all know, ****THIS IS THE SAME STORY AS BEFORE!**** It's simply being spellchecked, sentence rearranged and basically beta-ed by my sister, DragonGirl323. Nothing from the original story has been modified. It's still the same, only now just being edited. So please, do give this another chance because it is written better the second time around.**

**Also, I've made this Facebook page in hopes to attract more people to read my stories and get more notice about when I update and such, so here is my link: **

**(Facebook dot com)**/ #! / MortalParalight **(remove the spaces and please fill in the blanks that are written there, i.e.. (Facebook dot com) is the address of Facebook)**

**So now, without further ado, please READ AND REVIEW!**

**Disclaimer = I don't own Vampire Academy or anything mentioned in here!**

Chapter 3

Guilt

**Lissa's Point of View**

No, this couldn't be possible. Rose couldn't have been taken. She had to be somewhere around the Academy, still avoiding me because of my harsh words yesterday. She could not have been taken by Strigoi. It just wasn't possible. Rose would have killed them without breaking a sweat. She wouldn't have been taken down that easily by a few Strigoi.

"No, you're wrong. She can't be gone," I said, shaking my head vigorously, trying to make sense of the situation. Christian was frozen in shock behind me and placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder, but my mind was much too flustered to even notice his presence. "She couldn't have been taken..."

"I'm sorry, Lissa. I know it's hard to admit, but she was taken last night. We found her blood on the guard tower outside the ward. There was a small trail that led into the forest, but then it stopped and disappeared. All we can presume is that at least three Strigoi were involved in the attack. We're going to do all we can to try and find her, but it's going to be hard. We don't know in what condition she is in right now, but all we can hope for is that we'll find her alive," Alberta said grimly.

They were speaking so casually, no hint of panic or urgency in their voices. She could be dead for all we knew, or badly hurt and they were just standing here doing nothing! What was Rose even doing out in the…forest…? Oh God. She wouldn't have been out in that damn forest if it weren't for me and what I'd said to her!

Putting the heels of my hands against my temples, I bent my head forward in shame. "Oh God... It's all my fault," I said, blaming myself for all of this. It _was_ all my fault. If I hadn't told her that, then she wouldn't have been out walking towards the gate and she wouldn't have been taken! Oh God!

Dimitri placed a hand on my arm and tried to look me in the eyes. "It's not your fault, Lissa. No one could have—"

"It _is_ my fault! If I hadn't told her all those horrible things, then maybe this wouldn't have happened! She'd be here participating in the field experience and I'd be trying to make up for what I said, but now because of me, she's gone! She could be badly hurt or worse because of—"

"Stop it." Guardian Hathaway's voice echoed harshly through the mostly empty gymnasium. She looked at me, her gaze melancholic.

"Lissa, you can't possibly think that way. None of this is your fault," Dimitri tried to tell me, but I wasn't listening. My mind just kept replaying what was said during our fight, the heartbroken look on Rose's face when my words finally sunk in, and watching her walk away. It was the last I'd seen of her before _this_ happened. What if they were hurting her now? And why would they just take her? It couldn't just be a random abduction.

No, there had to be at least two main reasons why they wanted Rose and no one else.

First, they wanted revenge for what had happened in Spokane when Rose killed those two Strigoi. It had stopped the killings for a while, but now, the Strigoi could be resurfacing for revenge. Hopefully, that wasn't the reason because it could be gruesome.

The second reason was one that turned my blood cold and made me freeze completely. What if they took Rose to try to get to...me? We had our bond and everyone knew that once we graduated, she'd be my guardian. Plus, I was also the last Dragomir alive. They could easily use her to get to me.

But they would never be able to exploit Rose like that. Right?

Would she really tell on me after everything that happened? No. I might have misjudged her once, but I won't do it again. She's been more loyal to me than anyone in my entire life. Rose would rather...die...than tell those monsters anything.

Suddenly, my attention turned back to the guardians. "We need to keep as many guardians as possible around the Academy. If the Strigoi try to resurface, at least they'll have a little competition ahead of them. A small group of strong guardians should come with us while the rest stay here to protect the students, and most importantly, Lissa and the other royals. Since Rose is gone we won't be ensure Lissa's safety through their bond. We need as much protection as possible around here," Dimitri explained, and my determination seemed to grow inside of me. They were trying to leave me behind. That was not going to happen.

"No," was my only response. They all looked at me with a mix of shock and confusion. They didn't know what was going through my mind.

"You believe things should be done differently to protect the students?" Alberta asked, slightly shocked that I would speak up like this.

Shaking my head, I unconsciously rubbed the collected moisture out of my eyes while I spoke. "No, I think that heavy protection for the students is a great idea. But you're taking me with you."

"That is out of the question!" Janine exclaimed, her voice rising in fear of losing me along with her daughter.

"Guardian Hathaway, you can't expect to just leave me behind when my best friend is out there getting tortured because of me! I'm coming with you," I said sternly.

They couldn't just leave me behind, worrying about Rose's safety. Of course, even if I was with them, my emotions would still be all over the place.

"I'm not going to be left behind." Dimitri and the other two guardians looked at one another sceptically and it was obvious that they needed more convincing. "We can bring Christian and Adrian along as well! Christian's element is fire, so he can protect us, even kill a few Strigoi along the way. And Adrian can use spirit to slip into Rose's dreams. Maybe he can find out where she is. There are a few advantages to bringing us with you."

"We can't take the risk of having you all get hurt or killed. Especially you Princess," Alberta said, looking me in the eyes.

"We're willing to take that risk," Christian said, speaking up for the first time. His hands were still on my shoulders and he pulled me closer to his chest to offer me some form of comfort, which I was inwardly grateful for.

"And I am too," another voice spoke up from behind us. Turning around, I saw Adrian approaching us, an uncharacteristically serious look on his features. I assumed he was intoxicated at first, but the determination that was shining in his eyes as strongly as the sun would on a warm summer's day—of what Rose told me—made me think otherwise.

"Were you eavesdropping Mr. Ivashkov?" Janine asked, her a small amount of anger still present in her tone, probably over my little suggestion, but, surprisingly, seemed to have calmed down a little bit.

Adrian shrugged and said, "Had nothing better to do and since you're talking about little old me, then I just _had_ to listen in. But Lissa's right. It would help if you brought us along. We can help in our own way." The three guardians stared at us and Alberta sighed after a few moments of silence, turning to Dimitri.

"Gather half of the strongest guardians with you. We all leave shortly," she said stiffly before making her way toward the door.

"Alberta, you honestly can't be serious! They're only children!" Janine exclaimed, clearly not liking the idea of us going along.

Alberta turned and looked into Guardian Hathaway's eyes, clearly having no choice. "As much as I hate to admit it, they're right, Janine. I don't want to abuse their powers, but they're determined to come with us. Besides, we need all the help we can get at the moment. We don't know where Rose is and they could probably help us. It's our best bet if we bring them along," Alberta replied gently, and at the mention of Rose, Janine calmed down. Her daughter, in this dire moment, came first before this petty argument. Who knew what kind of condition Rose might be in now? We needed to hurry and this arguing wasn't helping anyone. "Janine, I know you want to find your daughter, but this is the only way we're going to accomplish anything. They can help us find her sooner rather than later."

Janine's face turned melancholic and she nodded, angling her face away from us in an attempt to hide her distress. Alberta placed a reassuring hand on the mother's shoulder before both of them left to find more guardians for the trip. Looking at Dimitri's, his features seemed grave as well, considering his pupil was just taken by Strigoi.

"Do you think we'll find her?" I asked nearly in a whisper.

The idea of not finding Rose scared me. No, it absolutely _terrified _me. We just _had_ to find her. It wasn't even imaginable to go through a day without having Rose get into a fight with someone—or stopping herself from getting into a fight—or having her just be close by and watching me through our bond to make sure I was alright. She really was a true friend.

Dimitri sighed heavily. "We have to." He looked at the three of us and locked gazes with each of us in turn. "Gather your things. As soon as they come back, we leave."

**Rose's Point of View**

A throbbing pain erupted in my head once the darkness dissipated from my mind. A small groan escaped my lips as my eyes blinked open slowly.

"Ah, I see our little dhampir has awakened," a male voice announced, ringing in my throbbing head.

_Where am I?_ I thought as I attempted to move my hand toward my head, but both hands wouldn't move. Another attempt at moving them brought a sharp pain through my wrists, causing my breath to hiss through my teeth. Looking down, I could see from the corner of my eye that my wrists were bound behind my back by flex cuffs. It was unwelcome déjà-vu from the events in Spokane.

Didn't these Strigoi own anything besides flex cuffs?

"It's futile to escape, so don't even try," the voice said again.

Looking up, I came face to face with a man—no, a Strigoi—with spiky black hair. He was wearing a white shirt that clung to his muscled chest and black jeans. What distinguished him from a human or a Moroi was the startling red tinged red eyes. He would have been incredibly hot if he weren't a Strigoi who probably wanted to kill or torture me.

"Where am I?" I asked, my voice rough, as I struggled in the wooden chair, testing how sturdy it was. He threw his head back at my efforts and laughed as I felt two hands, one on each of my shoulders, push me down and stop my struggling. "You better let me go you son of a bitch or I swear I'll kill you right here and now!" Of course, my threat was empty, but it was the best thing to do right now: not show weakness.

"It seems we've captured a feisty little one, doesn't it?" The man had a pronounced Texan accent. On anyone else, it would have been sexy, but on him, it was just wrong. He began approaching me while I still tried to struggle under the grasp of the Strigoi holding me down. "You're in my lair, little dhampir. And you're going to be here until you give us what we want," he stated, staring me down.

To be extremely frank, his red eyes scared me. It reminded me of the events back in Spokane when Mason had died. Although I would never let on how truly frightened I was. That would only add fuel to the fire. A part of me had hoped that I would never be stuck in this kind of situation again, but that was false hope. What could they possibly want?

"I'll never help you," I said strongly, still trying to move my arms to no avail. Since there was no point in struggling anymore, I went still and stared the Strigoi down. He laughed shortly and shot a sickening smile at me.

"You won't have a choice, little dhampir," he replied, clearly amused.

Looking me up and down, he reached into my pockets, searching them. I tried twisting my body to fight his hands off, but a few more Strigoi appeared and restrained my legs and my head, pinning me down completely. Once he found what he was looking for, my wallet, he took it out and fished out a certain card with my name on it. Crap. He knew who I was now. This couldn't be good…

"Rosemarie Hathaway. Quite a beautiful name. I've heard some very interesting things about you, Rose. Such as your friend, Vasilisa Dragomir and you being shadow-kissed, physically linking you to the princess." Oh no. They wanted Lissa. That's why they took me. They want to continue what Isaiah started: destroy the royal lines, making them extinct. Well, he wouldn't get her. Nothing he could do to me would make me give her up. "So…are you going to tell us where she is and make our lives easier?" he asked, approaching me slowly and meaningfully.

"Never."

He chuckled in amusement and placed his hands on my calves sickeningly, placing my wallet back in my pocket as if nothing had happened. Looking deeply in my eyes, his smile evaporated and he just stared at me.

"Now see, I don't want to have to use compulsion on you until I've officially broken you, but I'll give you another chance before we have to ask you the hard way. Where is Vasilisa?" he asked, still staring me down.

"Guess you'll have to go at it the hard way then," was my only response and he growled under his breath, straightening up completely, but still staring at me. "You're not gonna get Lissa. I won't tell you anything."

"We'll just see about that. Andrew, Dan, pry her mouth open," the Strigoi commanded, looking at Andrew on my left and Dan on my right as he said their names. They both nodded and placed a hand against my nose above my upper lip and another on my chin. "Open it enough for me to still keep eye contact with her."

"Yes, Gabriel," Andrew said before yanking my chin down, forcefully pulling my mouth open. My eyes were still locked with Gabriel's and he was just staring at me, his face a stony mask.

"Last chance, Rose. Tell us where Vasilisa is," Gabriel demanded, snapping his fingers.

Another Strigoi entered the room, dragging a redheaded Moroi that looked to be in his mid-teens along with him. The poor boy looked frightened but healthy. He must have just been taken by these men. Poor him… Gabriel looked at my silent form, already knowing that I wouldn't cooperate with him. He sighed once more, shaking his head in mock exasperation, and turned his attention to the Moroi. Grabbing the Moroi's chin, Gabriel locked eyes with the little boy and the Moroi's eyes glazed over. Gabriel was using compulsion on him. That was just sick and wrong.

"I want you to use your specialization on this dhampir. Make her suffer," he said, making my eyes widen.

What was this boy's element? Would it be water that they would drown me with? Or earth and hurt me with the chair? Or air or fire?

Struggling weakly, but unable to resist the Strigoi's compulsion, the boy's gaze fell on me and in an instant, I felt a gust of air enter my mouth and fly down my throat, stopping mid-way. He was blocking off my airways, pushing more air above the blockage in the middle of my throat, trying to suffocate me with too much air, air that I couldn't even use. Chokes and gasps of pain escaped my lips as the Moroi tortured me.

_Make it stop!_ I screamed internally as my body jerked and spasmed, fighting a futile battle. Black spots clouded my vision, the air continuing to push my blocked airways. Even attempting to breathe through my nose was impossible. I was being slowly strangled by the very thing that kept me alive.

"Stop," Gabriel said, grabbing the Moroi's chin and forcing him to look away from me.

The Moroi's magic was still suffocating me though, and right when I was on the cusp of blacking out, the air was sucked out of my mouth in one swift movement, allowing me to breathe again. Gasping and coughing for breath, Andrew and Dan stepped away and let me cough violently, tears threatening to spill out of my eyes.

How could one person be so cruel? No, he wasn't a person. He was a Strigoi. The human or Moroi he used to be was long gone.

Gabriel stepped over to me and grabbed my chin fiercely, making me look into those sickening red eyes.

"Now, I'm going to ask you one more time… Where. Is. Vasilisa?"

**So what did you all think of this edited chapter 3? Still good? Needs work? Let me know what you think in some REVIEWS!**

**Mortal-paralight**

12


	5. Silent

**Alright, so here is the fourth chapter in this updated story. Once again, this is the SAME STORY AS BEFORE, only being edited by my sister, DragonGirl323. Please continue to give this story the chance it continues to deserve and I hope that you will like this updated chapter. **

**Also, I've made this Facebook page in hopes to attract more people to read my stories and get more notice about when I update and such, so here is my link: **

**(Facebook dot com)**/ #! / MortalParalight **(remove the spaces and please fill in the blanks that are written there, i.e.. (Facebook dot com) is the address of Facebook)**

**So now, without further ado, please READ AND REVIEW!**

**Disclaimer = I don't own Vampire Academy or anything mentioned in here!**

Chapter 4

Silent

**Rose's Point of View**

"Where is the last Dragomir, dhampir?!" Gabriel asked impatiently when I didn't answer him.

Still panting for breath, my eyes simply locked with his, not uttering a word. Even though Lissa wouldn't want anything to do with me anymore, it wasn't right to sell her out. I still wanted to protect her. She used to be my best friend. We had been through so much that giving all of that up by selling her out to this sadistic monster was absolutely wrong.

"Where is she?" he repeated. "I know she's at that Academy, but I want her specific location. Her dorm room, her classes, all the areas around campus that she frequents. Everything."

"Go to hell…" I panted, keeping my eyes locked with his.

He really didn't like that answer. "I'm already there, Rose. Now you better tell me what I want to hear before I get really angry." His voice seemed to grow darker as he whispered this last part to me, forming goose bumps on my arms with each word.

"I thought Strigoi had a brain… I'm never going to tell you anything…"

A growl erupted from Gabriel's throat as he walked behind me, seized my hair near the scalp, and tilted my head back sharply, making me gasp in pain. His lips sickeningly brushed my cheek and stayed next to my ear, his breath warm against my cheek. "I'm sick and tired of playing games with you. I've tried being nice, but now you have no idea what you're in for. Now, I'm giving you one," a hard pull on my hair hair, "last," another pull and a small whimper on my part, "chance. Tell me where the last Dragomir is."

"Screw you…" I breathed out, never intending to tell him what I know.

He'd never get to Lissa. Not over my dead body. He could torture me all he wanted, but I would never crack. If she didn't want me as a guardian or a friend anymore, at least she would live to find a new guardian and a new best friend since I didn't plan on making it out of here alive, or even barely alive.

You could see in Gabriel's eyes that my answer didn't please him. He jerked his head up and looked at what I assumed was another Strigoi. "Marc, get the earth wielder," Gabriel ordered and my fear grew slightly, my heart pounding in my chest.

What would he make this Moroi do to me? What would be the consequence this time? A few seconds later, there were footsteps entering the room, but my eyes were fixed on the ceiling since Gabriel was still holding my head tilted back.

"Make it so that Rose here can no longer struggle. Make it painful. Make it slow."

It took a few seconds before I felt a sharp stinging sensation in my back. It was like two needles were slowly being embedded in my skin. But it didn't just _feel _like two needles. It _was_ two needles. The stinging quickly grew into a searing pain as the tips lodged in my back suddenly enlarged. I gasped in pain, clenching my teeth, as the thickening needle tips dug deeply into my flesh, the blood that was seeping down my shirt. The sickeningly slow progression of the points as they traveled farther and farther into my back was maddening. My breathless gasps turned into shrill screams as the wooden stakes—yes, the needles had enlarged enough to become the size of a small stake, two in fact—changed direction and moved upwards. Gabriel smirked and I squeezed my eyes shut, not only because I didn't want to look at him, but because the pain was unbearable.

"Are you going to tell me what I want to hear?" Gabriel asked, his mouth near my ear. As the tips of the stakes continued on their path, another scream erupted from my lips.

"Make it stop!" I screamed as the tips continued curling upward slowly. This was horrible! How could one person cause so much pain to someone else without feeling any remorse?

"I'll make everything stop if you tell me where your friend is. That's all I want. Your pain will end completely if you tell me where Vasilisa is," Gabriel said somewhat softly, straightening and beginning to casually circle me.

My pain would end if I told him what he wanted. Could I do that? Just give Lissa away to save myself from more pain? It…it seemed so tempting. All this horrible pain would end…

What was I _thinking_?!

Giving up Lissa's life just so this pain would end? How selfish was that?! No wonder Lissa didn't want me to be a part of her life anymore… There was no way in hell he would find her. I would die before I ever seriously considered selling Lissa out.

When no words came out of my mouth, he growled and snapped his fingers. The stakes coiled around my ribs like vines, invariably locking themselves inside me, and forced another agonized scream from me.

"Bring her closer to me," Gabriel ordered the Moroi from where he was standing somewhere behind me.

In an instant, I felt the wooden hooks inside of me yank on my bones, dragging me my bones backward painfully, chair and all. Another scream erupted from my throat as the Moroi pulled me along for what felt like an eternity. When I finally came to a stop a part of me wanted to cry in relief, but I valiantly bit my tears back. Clenching my teeth in preparation for when Gabriel gave the order for his captive Earth wielder to rip the stakes out of my back, but the hooks stayed right where they were, still latched onto my ribs painfully.

But at least the pain didn't get any worse. The bleeding didn't stop, but the pain lessened thankfully, becoming more of a dull ache.

As I sat there panting, Gabriel grabbed my hair again and locked eyes with me. He had yet to use compulsion on me. Maybe he thought that I would give in willingly. Yeah, over my dead body. He wouldn't get anything out of me. Maybe Lissa didn't care anymore about me, but I still did. My mind still wanted to hang on to the memories of us at Halloween and when we had fled from the Academy. We relied on one another and we were happy. We were best friends. But that had all changed…today…? Or yesterday? There weren't any clocks around here, only a tinted window, which couldn't give me an accurate time either. The point remained that I would still keep protecting her, even if she didn't want that.

Gabriel must have said something because he jerked my head backwards, making a whimper escape my lips. "Answer me!" he exclaimed angrily. He growled again savagely. "Where is she?!"

"I'll never tell you…" was my weak answer. He threw my head forward in frustration and began walking away from me toward the other end of the room, mumbling under his breath.

At that moment, I tried feeling Lissa's emotions through the bond, even though she didn't like that or never wanted me to do so again. I needed to know that she was alright, that they hadn't found her.

She was worried, but not in danger. She seemed slightly relieved at the moment for some reason, must have been because she was with Christian or someone else. But, of what I could tell—since I was so weak, the connection didn't seem as strong, making it a real challenge for me to read her emotions—she wasn't worried about me. That seemed a little unusual, but I assumed that was because Lissa was still angry with me. No matter. At the rate Gabriel was torturing me, I wouldn't live to see the next day.

I left Lissa's mind and lifted my head, coming face to face with Gabriel and his unsettling ruby eyes. Fear gripped me instantly. He was furious and hungry. I was still bleeding profusely from the back, my blood having already soaked through my shirt and was now running down the chair. Gabriel stalked toward me and grabbed my chin, forcing me to look up at him.

"What do you have to gain by helping her?" he asked curiously.

I didn't answer him, which aggravated him even more. Frankly, I didn't know _what_ to say to that. Lissa and I weren't friends anymore. But did that mean I had to give her up to him? It was simply loyalty that held me from spilling her location to him. Gabriel narrowed his eyes.

"One day, you will answer my questions. We'll see if you cooperate later on, but if you don't, we'll have to force you." His eyes darted to my neck and he smirked slightly. Oh no… "Right now, I'm hungry. And you smell so delicious… I've never had dhampir blood before. Hopefully it will be amazing."

Grabbing a fistful of my hair, he tilted my head to the side and brought his lips to my neck. I didn't have enough strength to fight him off and so, he pierced me with his fangs, injecting the endorphin into my system, and began drinking. His Strigoi endorphins were much stronger than a Moroi's and I gasped as the sensation of being high crashed over me, making a long moan escape my lips. As he drank small quantities of my blood, I could feel my consciousness beginning to slip. Because of all the torture I'd endured today, the drug-like effects didn't seem to have that great of an effect on me now.

He only took a small amount of my blood, but it was still enough for black spots to cloud my vision. "Hmm…delicious." His voice was getting fainter by the second. He lifted my chin and my fuzzy vision attempted to focus on his face. I barely saw it when he smirked.

"Have a nice nap," he said, letting go of my chin, and the moment that my head fell forward, my vision darkened and unconsciousness took me.

**Lissa's Point of View**

Christian and I had finished packing and hurried to the two black cars. The guardians were already huddled around the vehicles and in total there were eight guardians, including Dimitri, Alberta, and Janine. Stan, our teacher/guardian, had decided to stay at the school and help protect the rest of the students. Adrian was standing beside Janine, looking worried even if he was trying to stay calm. Christian went to put our luggage in the car, then came back to stand next to me afterwards.

But for me, my mind was all over the place. How in the world were we supposed to know which direction to go in? Rose could be anywhere… She could be hurt right now and we wouldn't know. What condition would she be in when we found her? It worried me… She would have never been out so close to the woods if I hadn't said all those hurtful things to her. God… I still couldn't _believe_ I said that… It was so heartless of me.

Clutching the chotki in my hand, I could only imagine how lifeless my expression looked. Guilt kept eating at me with time and my heart clenched constantly every time I thought of Rose. When we found her alive, I would apologize over and over again in hopes that she would someday be able to forgive me.

Christian pulled me to the side of the car and cupped my face between his hands. His eyes bored into mine as he began rubbing soothing circles on my cheeks with his thumbs. "You can't beat yourself up because of this, Liss. It's not your fault," he said softly.

"How can you say that?"

"Because I know you. And I'm starting to know Rose too. Sure, you guys have your fights, but you always go back to being best friends. This is just a little speed bump in your friendship. She'll forgive you. And the fact that Rose was kidnapped was simply having her be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It had nothing to do with your fight." When he saw that I didn't believe him, he tried to go in a different direction. "We'll find her, Lissa. Then you can apologize all you want to her. She'll welcome your apology with open arms."

"How do you know…?" I asked sadly. My hope to find Rose was high, but our chances were slim at the moment. But we would find her either way. That was certain. We would find her, whatever it took.

"Because, once again, I know you both. If they took her for some reason, we all know that Rose won't go down without a fight. And you won't stop until you find her. So with your combined efforts, we'll be able to find her soon," he said, pressing a soft kiss to my forehead. He kept his lips against my skin and when we separated, we gave a quick kiss before joining Adrian in the car.

Dimitri, Janine, and Alberta rode with us while the other guardians took the second car. Alberta looked at Adrian and, as Dimitri drove, she began speaking. "Adrian, of what we've heard, you can penetrate into other people's dreams. Correct?"

"Yeah, I went into Rose's dreams a few times and helped Lissa with spirit through her dreams," Adrian responded, his face still serious, which was new for him.

"Perfect. Although I really despise the idea that you've been going through my daughter's dreams, this could be useful in our search for Rose," Janine said, looking at the other guardians. Alberta and Dimitri nodded and Janine looked back at Adrian. "How long can you go into her dreams?"

"A few minutes. I haven't really practiced it all that much these days."

"Then a few minutes will have to do. You're going to have to be quick and ask where she is, that is…" She trailed off, the last half of her sentence hanging heavily in the air around us. Janine was thinking the worst, as were all of us. What if Rose wasn't alive right now?

What if she actually was gone and we were on this search for nothing…? NO! She was alive! I'd know if my best friend was gone. There would be a tug at my heart and I would feel empty. Even if our bond was a one way deal, I still somewhat felt her, kind of like when you feel the love of your life get hurt, or you think something happened to him. It was like that, but with my best friend.

"Nevertheless, you'll have to be quick and careful. Try to see if she's asleep or unconscious. At least we might be able to find out her location before we go any further."

Adrian nodded and closed his eyes with a deep shaky breath. My fingers crossed in hope. Please…please let him be able to find her… _Please_...

_Hang in there, Rose. We're coming._

**So what did you all think? Good? Bad? Let me know your thoughts in some REVIEWS please!**

**Mortal-paralight**

11


	6. Dreams

**Alright, so here's the next chapter in this story. Thank you to my beta, DragonGirl323, for editing this chapter, so please READ AND REVIEW!**

**Also, I've made this Facebook page in hopes to attract more people to read my stories and get more notice about when I update and such, so here is my link: **

**(Facebook dot com)**/ #! / MortalParalight **(remove the spaces and please fill in the blanks that are written there, i.e.. (Facebook dot com) is the address of Facebook)**

**So now, without further ado, please READ AND REVIEW!**

**Disclaimer = I don't own Vampire Academy or anything mentioned in here!**

Chapter 5

Dreams

**Adrian's Point of View**

After I closed my eyes, trying to establish the connection with Rose didn't come easily. She was in fact asleep, but it took many tries before Rose's subconscious let me in. Once I was inside her dream, I returned us to the garden I'd shown her so long ago and quickly decided what she would be wearing.

The dreamscape suddenly materialized before me and Rose was there, standing in the middle of the garden, surrounded by beautiful lilacs, tulips, and even roses of all different colors. I had dressed her in a lacy white mid-drift top that exposed the beautiful skin of her stomach and a white layered knee length skirt; her feet were bare. On her navel was the pendant her mother had given her for Christmas, dangling from her piercing. But one thing was missing from her upper body: the _chotki_ Lissa had given her. Where was it?

Her clothes were gently blowing back and forth in the breeze as she stared at me in confusion. Rose looked absolutely stunning… Of course, this wasn't what she looked like in reality, but, in this dream, she looked perfect, just like a rose in full bloom—cheesy and ironic, I know.

"Adrian? What are you doing here?" Rose asked, frowning as she glanced around.

"We're in your dream, Rose. They want me to ask you a few questions to help us look for you," I said, approaching her slowly.

It was the first time that I hadn't called her 'little dhampir' in her dreams. Today, I wasn't here to peak into her subconscious and try to seduce her while she slept. Today, it was all business. We had to make sure Rose was alright. One piece of good news was that she was still alive. I wouldn't have been able to dip into her subconscious if she was dead.

"They?"

"Your mom and the other guardians. We're coming to get you but we don't—"

"You can't come find me!" she interrupted, her tone frantic. "He'll kill you all! He's strong and he's using compulsion on a few Moroi with different specialisations. He'll just compel them to hurt you."

Rose was scared, for us. Not for herself, as usual. Walking over to her, I stopped not even one foot away from her. We looked into each other's eyes and the only message it seemed that she was trying to tell me was to not come for her. Not gonna happen.

"You can't risk your life to save me. Gabriel's too powerful," Rose said, her voice breaking a few times. What had this 'Gabriel' managed to do her already?! She'd only been gone one day! Rose couldn't be that badly hurt… Can she?

"Rose, you need to tell me where you are."

"I can't… I don't know where I am. They knocked me out at the school and I woke up in a basement. They tinted the windows, so I have no idea where I am or what time it is," she explained, making me slightly irritated. So our trail was leading us nowhere. We had to find another way of locating her.

Much sooner than I anticipated, I could feel the connection between us beginning to weaken. We had to hurry. Cupping her cheeks with my palms, my eyes locked with hers and searched deep within her for any answers that would lead us to her. There didn't seem to be any. "Rose, why did he take you?"

"He…he wants Lissa. He wants to kill her and wipe out the entire Dragomir line. He wants to know where she is so he can kill her," she whispered, the fear and sadness she felt over Lissa getting killed obvious in her voice.

"But you're not telling him anything." She shook her head. Man, Rose was definitely a fighter. If Gabriel was as strong as Rose said he was, it was a miracle that she was still alive right now. "Tell me what he's done to you, Rose."

Her expression saddened even more. "I can't… It's too gruesome." A low growl vibrated through me. What kind of horrible things had he done to her?! "It's too hard to explain…too painful…"

"Then show me." Rose didn't seem to be able—or want—to do that either. She needed more motivation. "Your mom's prepared to burn or decapitate him the minute she knows what he's put you through so far. She wants revenge. Lissa's worried sick too. She—"

"Lissa?" she asked, her tone shocked and confused. Rose hadn't been expecting me to bring up Lissa, that much was obvious, and I couldn't help but wonder why. Had something happened between the two of them?

"Yeah, she's sitting beside me in the car. She's worrying like hell over you. She's asking what they did to you. Frankly, it's getting on my nerves, but it shows that she's worried. That's why you have to show me, Rose," I assured her, my hands still cupping her cheeks softly.

Rose still seemed confused about my explanation. "She…she wouldn't… Not after… She wouldn't want to…" I took her moment of confusion to slide both of my hands up to press against her temples and stare at her with all the seriousness I could muster.

"Show me, Rose. Please," I begged and, seconds later, Rose closed her eyes and our surroundings changed.

Rose disappeared from under my hands and she was nowhere in sight. I wasn't standing in the garden anymore, but now, I was in a basement, staring at a Strigoi whose eyes pulsed with impatience. He walked right through me and went towards something or someone behind me. Turning around, I saw Rose tied by her wrists to a chair, two Strigoi holding her down to stop her struggling. The boss went toward her and asked where Lissa was, but Rose refused to tell him anything about her location, which made the main Strigoi mad.

He must be Gabriel.

From his stance and the questions he was asking, it was now obvious that this Gabriel was their leader. He was quite sophisticated for a Strigoi, well mannered almost. From what I'd heard and learned from classes on Strigoi, they were supposed to be animalistic and incapable of controlling themselves. Maybe he was older. Who knows?

When Rose didn't give him the right answer, he ordered the two Strigoi to pry her mouth open as a Moroi stepped into the room. One of the Strigoi holding Rose pinched her nose shut while the other one wrenched her chin down forcefully, forcing to keep her mouth open. Rose struggled while Gabriel compelled the Moroi to make her suffer. Running up to Rose, I tried to help her, but every attempt I made was futile. My hands went right through her.

Suddenly, her eyes widened and she began gasping for breath. It didn't take me long to figure out that the Moroi was an air specialist. He was smothering her with air, forcing it down her throat. That monster!

Rose struggled, gasped, and coughed for breath as the Moroi continued pushing air into her mouth. Her throat looked swollen in the middle, indicating that the air user was blocking her throat with air. He was pushing more air on top of air. How sick! Screaming at Gabriel to stop torturing her was no use; I was merely a spectator.

After a few seconds, Rose was about ready to lose consciousness when Gabriel finally compelled the Moroi to stop. The air rushed out of Rose's mouth just as the Strigoi let go of her and she began coughing violently. Gabriel ordered a Strigoi guard to return the Moroi and walked over to a panting Rose. He asked about Lissa once again, but Rose never gave in, even after what she had just gone through. She was protecting Lissa even now in this hell…

Gabriel grabbed a handful of her hair near the scalp and asked one more time, jerking her head back with each word. I wanted so badly to help her, but this was only an illusion of the past.

Rose still didn't give in to him, which made him grow even angrier. Gabriel ordered his Strigoi minion to get an earth wielder and Rose's eyes widened fearfully. No… He couldn't hurt her again. How much could Rose take?

The earth wielder came into the room and Gabriel compelled him to stop her struggling. And so, I didn't exactly know what was going on just yet, but in the next moment, Rose gasped, which was swiftly followed by a pain filled screamed. What was he doing to her?! Walking slowly around behind her, I saw something made my stomach turn and my eyes widen in shock.

There were two small stakes formed out of the back of the chair being impaled into Rose's back, going further and further into her body, Rose's screams escalated in volume. Gabriel kept on trying to get her to confess so that her pain would stop, but even as she was being tortured, she didn't say anything.

He obviously didn't like that.

His anger rose and he compelled the Moroi to bring Rose closer to him. How was the Moroi going to do that?! Suddenly, Rose was being pulled back toward Gabriel, the chair legs scraping along the floor, and her screams rang harshly in my ears. A gasp escaped my lips as I watched the scene in front of me.

Don't tell me that… The Moroi had hooked the wood onto her…bones?

If the wood was simply embedded in her skin, the Moroi wouldn't have been able to pull Rose back. It would be the same for her skin. The wood would have just ripped through the skin, making her stay where she was. The only solution would be to latch them onto her bones… It made me so sick to see this… If they kept this torture up like this, she wouldn't last long. No one could.

Once Rose was pushed back into the chair, she sat gasping and panting, but never crying. I had figured she would have at least shed a few tears at being put through such horrible pain, but nothing. Rose really was a brave little dhampir…

Gabriel insisted on questioning her more, but she flipped him off. Man, I loved this girl's loyalty. He looked down at her neck and after a short speech, he sunk his fangs into her neck and drank greedily. That son of a bitch! He was going to pay once I got my hands on him!

Once he drank his fill, Rose looked like she was ready to pass out. In seconds, she was out for the count and the basement disappeared. We were back in the garden and I was literally trembling with rage. Rose looked at me sadly and when I locked eyes with her, my arms tightened around her body and pulled her closer to me, afraid for her.

"I'm sorry, Adrian, you shouldn't have seen that…" Rose apologized sadly.

"Don't you dare apologize, Rose. None of this is your fault. You're protecting Lissa, just like you said you would always do. No one blames you for that," I said, stroking her back as I spoke.

Rose didn't reply, and suddenly, I started to feel myself being pulled backwards by an unseen force. No… My consciousness was pulling me out of the dream. I couldn't hold onto the connection much longer.

No, I couldn't leave yet! Rose needed help. She couldn't keep going on like this forever. No one could continue enduring this torture and survive it… Rose was still half human. She could easily die from all of these wounds… I couldn't leave!

"You have to leave…don't you?" Rose asked, her face buried in my chest.

Looking down at her, she hadn't moved, but instead spoke with her voice muffled by my shirt. She was smarter than we gave her credit for. Rose knew when I had to leave her, now being one of those moments. And I hated this moment with a passion. What if Gabriel killed her tomorrow and this was the last memory I, or anyone, would have of her?

"It's alright. You have to do what you have to do. And I have to keep doing what I'm doing…for Lissa. Even if she doesn't want me anymore…"

My confusion deepened at her last words. What did she mean? "Rose? What are you—"

"I want you to do something for me though."

"Um…alright? Which would be?" I asked, becoming even more curious and confused. What was with Rose and all of this secrecy?

"I want you to get Lissa back to the Academy. Do whatever you have to and bring her back. She doesn't belong anywhere near where I am and I know that she's only coming along on the search to keep up an act. Even if Lissa doesn't want anything to do with me…she shouldn't come. That's what Gabriel wants."

What the hell was she talking about?! Lissa was her best friend and the worry that I and everyone else could plainly see was _not_ an act. It was the real thing. How could Rose doubt that for a second? Something must have happened before Rose was captured…but what?

"And don't try to come for me. You've seen what he can do. Just turn back around and forget about me."

"Rose, we can't do—"

"You have to." Rose's voice was getting fainter, indicating I was close to losing the link with her mind. Damn it! I had to find a way to make these dream connections last longer… Maybe it's because of Rose's current state that the connection wasn't very strong.

_Come on, Rose… Stay strong. For us. For me._

"Stay alive… Don't come after me…" were the last words I had heard before the connection cut off. Blackness surrounded me and Rose was no longer in my arms.

**So what did you all think? Good? Bad? Please let me know in some REVIEWS!**

**Mortal-paralight**

10


	7. Back to Reality

**Alright, here is the next update for this story. I'm glad to see that you guys still like the story, even after all these edits and everything. It's really nice to see how passionate you are about reading this fanfic. Thank you again for my sister/beta, DragonGirl323, for editing this chapter so quickly and I will try and update the next chapter soon.**

**Also, I've made this Facebook page in hopes to attract more people to read my stories and get more notice about when I update and such, so here is my link: **

**(Facebook dot com)**/ #! / MortalParalight **(remove the spaces and please fill in the blanks that are written there, i.e.. (Facebook dot com) is the address of Facebook)**

**So now, without further ado, please READ AND REVIEW!**

**Disclaimer = I don't own Vampire Academy or anything mentioned in here!**

Chapter 6

Back to Reality

**Adrian's Point of View**

My eyes opened and I was once again inside the car, surrounded by the other Moroi and guardians looking at me expectantly. Guardian Hathaway, Alberta, and Lissa…all Rose's family and friends… All of them waiting to see what I had learned in that single—but probably long—dream connection.

"So? Were you able to get into her subconscious?" Guardian Hathaway asked, her gaze locked on mine.

With a very small nod, she let out the breath she had been holding so dearly. She was happy to know that at least her daughter was alive. But Rose was not in very good shape… Wonder how she would take it if I told her that her daughter was being tortured for information…

"Is she alright? What have they done to her? Where did they take her?" Lissa started firing questions in my direction and I turned my eyes toward her. What did Rose mean when she said that Lissa wouldn't want anything to do with her? Something had happened between them and it wasn't good… "Well?! Tell us!" she exclaimed.

"What did you say to Rose before this all happened?" I asked, ignoring her questions, although my mind badly wanted to tell them the truth of the situation.

Lissa looked at me with a confused expression that lasted only a few seconds before her features turned grim and she looked down at her lap. Obviously, the little princess knew what I was talking about. And she was trying to hide it.

"Well?" I prodded.

"I… I said some things that I'm not proud of. And it really hurt Rose…" Lissa started, before falling silent again. We all waited patiently for her to continue, to enlighten us about what she had said to Rose. "Well, I wanted to keep my thoughts private, but Rose was worried and she peaked into my emotions… I never wanted her to find out. None of this would have happened if I hadn't been thinking that… God, I was so stupid to even begin to think that in the first place."

"Come on, Lissa, spit it out," I said impatiently, still staring at her. What was she trying to hide? Was it really that bad? "We all are dying to know."

Lissa looked at me sadly before returning her gaze to her lap and sighing. This couldn't be good… "I blamed her for Mason's death…"

Shocked gasps erupted from Guardian Hathaway and Alberta at Lissa's confession. Why the hell would she even think that Rose was to blame for Mason's death?! Sure, I never liked the guy, but Rose was _not_ to blame for that! She tried everything that she could!

"And…" Oh God…there's more?! "I… I questioned whether she could guard me well enough…so that I wouldn't end up like Mason… And that Dimitri would be a better guardian than Rose is…" Lissa explained in a very small voice, tears spilling slowly down her face. Christian placed an arm around Lissa and brought her closer, rubbing her arm softly. But you could see in his eyes that he was as shocked as we were.

No wonder Rose had told me Lissa wanted nothing to do with her anymore…

"How could you?" I asked in complete shock. Lissa turned her tear-stained face to me and looked me with the most heartbroken face I'd ever seen in my life. But that didn't matter to me right now. My anger was rising and it was all being directed toward Lissa, after everything I'd seen Rose endure in her subconscious.

"I didn't mean it… I don't even know why I said it…" Lissa said, trying to defend herself.

Never had I gotten mad or yelled at Lissa, but this was an exception. "How could you tell her that?! Do you have _any_ idea what she is enduring right now because she's protecting none other than _you_?! All of the pain that she is being put through, it's all for _you_! So that _you_ don't get killed! And you dare tell her that… How _dare_ you?!" Lissa's eyes shut tight once my words sunk in. In her mind, she knew that Rose had been captured because they wanted information on the last Dragomir. It was obvious.

"What have they done to her Adrian…?" Alberta asked, asking the question Guardian Hathaway was dying to ask herself, but wasn't strong enough mentally to hear all the pain her daughter was going through now. "Please, just tell us…"

"They're using Moroi against her… Of what she told me, they have a few captured and this guy, Gabriel, the Strigoi leader, is compelling the Moroi to torture Rose for information on Lissa."

Glaring slightly at Lissa, she wouldn't dare meet my eyes. She was already feeling guilty enough without my accusing glares adding to it. Christian glared back at me for being so cruel to Lissa and rubbed her arms even more now, holding her closer to him. Looking back at the guardians, Guardian Hathaway knew that Rose was in grave danger. It was evident in her eyes. What she didn't know was that Rose was in a large amount of pain right now…even in her unconscious state. She wouldn't last long if they continued to torture her like that.

"She doesn't know where she is or what time it is," I continued. "They have her in complete darkness, basically. The windows are apparently tinted black so she can't see the outside. She was knocked out at the school and woke up in that basement."

"She's in a basement with tinted black windows… That's like looking for a needle in a haystack," Guardian Hathaway replied, getting frustrated. This information was leading us nowhere, but we couldn't blame anyone, not even Rose. She was doing the best she could with what she had. Guardian Hathaway sighed and turned her attention to me again. "What are they doing to my daughter?"

"They're hurting her… I've never seen someone act so cruel toward anyone… She's tied up in there and can't really move. And at first, the leader brought in an air user and began suffocating her."

Lissa turned her attention back to me and her eyes popped open wide. The others gasped and Belikov seemed to get angrier with every piece of information I was giving them. His hand was turning white as he tightly gripped the steering wheel. Man… I don't want to mess with him right now.

"Gabriel ordered two Strigoi to block her airways to her nose and to open her mouth forcefully. They're really strong. Even Rose couldn't struggle out of their hold. They pushed so much air into her throat that they clogged it. They tortured her with the air user until she could barely stay conscious anymore. Gabriel kept asking her for Lissa's location but Rose isn't telling him anything. She knows what she has to do and she won't give in." Looking at Lissa, her eyes only held guilt. And she should feel guilty, especially after what she said to Rose.

"I—"

"Did you know that she is basically being staked alive because she's protecting you?" Her eyes widened at my question. No one knew what was happening to Rose but me. And they were going to find out.

"What?!" Guardian Hathaway exclaimed angrily.

Nodding, I continued but never removed my gaze from Lissa's. And she did the same. But her eyes held fear, guilt and sadness while mine held blame and anger. "After the air user stopped suffocating Rose, Gabriel asked Rose where Lissa was again, but she wouldn't cooperate. Gabriel got pissed and commanded a few Strigoi to bring in an earth user." Many gasps sounded in the car as Belikov seemed to get angrier. What was with him? "When the earth user got in the room, that son of a bitch of a leader ordered the Moroi to stop Rose's struggling."

"Oh no…" Lissa said, her voice cracking badly.

"Oh yes. The earth wielder was compelled to use the wood of the chair and impale stakes in Rose's back."

Guardian Hathaway's eyes closed in horror and she bowed her head at the turn of events. She knew that Rose had been tortured, but not to this extent. Alberta looked away and, to my eyes, it looked like she was going to be sick. Belikov was angrier than ever. I think he would break the steering wheel if he could. Lissa turned away in pure horror and sobbed into Christian's shirt. As for Christian himself, he just sat there in stunned silence. It showed on everyone's faces that this was not something they were expecting to hear. And frankly, it wasn't something that anyone should have to bear, especially not Rose.

My voice became smaller when I began speaking again. "Gabriel still tried to get her to answer his questions as the stakes were pushed further in her body. But Rose wouldn't say anything. Not once would she cry at the pain, but it showed that she wanted to. She literally _begged_ him to take away the pain, but he would only tell her that if she told him what he wanted to hear, _then_ he would tell the Moroi to stop. But she still wouldn't betray Lissa. So…he compelled the earth wielder to…" I gulped once before I continued again, "to hook the stakes onto her bones and pull her towards him…"

"WHAT?!" Guardian Hathaway exclaimed, nearly rising out of her seat. Tears finally began pouring down her face as she heard Rose's horrible torture sequence today. "How _dare_ he?! Where is this bastard?! I'm going to slowly torture the son of a bitch!"

"Janine, calm down. I know this is…very hard to hear, but you can't rush in. Rose could get hurt even more than she already is." That got Guardian Hathaway to calm down _ever_ so slightly and sit back down in her seat. Who knew someone as small as her could have such big anger problems? Now I know where Rose gets it from… "And besides, we have no idea where she's being held…" Alberta turned to me and began speaking directly to me now. "Has he done anything else to her?"

"Well, when she still wouldn't tell him anything, he became angrier and decided to drink from her until she passed out. That's where the dream ended and I was pulled back here… But Rose did tell me something, a message that I have to deliver," I responded, not sure if they wanted to know the rest. The others would be angrier than ever if they knew that Rose didn't want us to find her.

"And that would be?" Christian asked, seeming to look through me instead of at me. He was too horrified about Rose's torture that he was just holding Lissa and nothing more, his eyes holding pure terror. Rose had saved him back in Spokane and I suppose they are now closer than before. "Spit it out already!" Christian exclaimed, thinking I took too long to answer him.

"She doesn't want us to find her… And since Rose knows that Lissa doesn't want anything to do with her anymore, she wants us to bring Lissa back to the Academy and keep her safe," I replied, repeating Rose's words nearly to the letter.

Guardian Hathaway shook her head fiercely. "Over my dead body we're leaving her there. I won't leave her behind!" she swore, staring intensely at me.

"And I'm not going back! After everything that Rose is doing for me now, it's about time that I saved her for once," Lissa said, wiping her eyes and looking at me. Rose was important to her _now_? At least she's determined.

"That what I figured your answers would be… But I didn't have enough time to prove it to her differently."

"Well, we'll just have to prove it when we find her. And we'll do it soon. We can't let her suffer any longer…" Lissa said, looking at the guardians and receiving an approval from all three. Belikov hadn't said anything during this entire conversation… What was going through his head right now? Well, I couldn't focus on that right now. Rose was more important.

"So, we'll just have to keep going. Maybe this will help… Gabriel has a Texan accent," I said, changing the subject. Everyone looked at one another and tried to decipher where we could find Rose at the moment.

"Maybe he moved away from Texas and she's in the area?" Alberta asked, looking at Guardian Hathaway. Both guardians looked at one another with a worried expression.

"Or he was born with the accent and stayed in Texas," Guardian Hathaway said worriedly. "We should head toward Texas then, seeing as it'll take us a while to get out of the state. It'll also give us some time for Adrian to enter her thoughts again and see if Rose knows where she is." Guardian Hathaway looked at me and I nodded, wanting to help save Rose in any way possible. Guardian Hathaway nodded in approval. "Alright everyone, we've got one mission and one mission only. To save Rose by killing all of those Strigoi who are torturing her. Can we do that?" Everyone nodded and Janine looked at Belikov. "Drive quickly, Dimitri. At this rate, we don't have much time to save my daughter."

Belikov nodded and drove even faster than he was now. We nearly had to hang onto our seats to stay in them.

_God… Can I get off this crazy train?_ I thought.

But Rose's face appeared in my mind as Belikov drove rapidly toward Rose's supposed 'location'. How I wanted her to be safe again and see her smile again… No way could she die like this…alone. She needed to live.

_Rose, hang in there… Stay alive…for me._

**So what did you guys think? Good again? Bad? Could be better the second time around? Let me know in some REVIEWS!**

**Mortal-paralight**

10


	8. A Choice

**Alright, so here's the next chapter. Seeing as it's Halloween, might as well update so that you guys have something to read while the kids may be jumping up and down because of sugar rushes. So here it is, and thanks once again to my beta/sister, DragonGirl323, for sending me this edited chapter. It was greatly done. I'll try and get the next one up for you guys soon.**

**Also, I've made this Facebook page in hopes to attract more people to read my stories and get more notice about when I update and such, so here is my link: **

**(Facebook dot com)**/ #! / MortalParalight **(remove the spaces and please fill in the blanks that are written there, i.e.. (Facebook dot com) is the address of Facebook)**

**So now, without further ado, please READ AND REVIEW!**

**Disclaimer = I don't own Vampire Academy or anything mentioned in here!**

Chapter 7

A Choice

**Dimitri's Point of View**

Rose… Roza…

How could she endure all of that pain? What Adrian had just told us was gruesome and no one could imagine how Rose was enduring all of this without telling them anything. All of that pain…she was so brave to deal with it all by herself. Wait until I get my hands on those Strigoi… They would pay for what they've done to Rose! I missed Rose's smile, her confident attitude, everything about her. It felt as if a part of me went with her and was slowly being tortured alongside her. How could they do that to someone so kind and pure like Rose?! They would pay. No one could do that to her and get away with it...

The sun fell, but I kept driving, determined to get to Rose before something even worse happened. But as it grew darker, Lissa and the other Moroi began to worry about the possibility of another Strigoi attack. Alberta watched me intently and saw my stern face. No one would mess with me right now, not when my Rose was being tortured. My mind couldn't even fathom the idea of picturing someone hurting my Roza.

"Dimitri, we need to stop for the night," Alberta said. But I didn't answer. My mind was still reeling with all the information Adrian had given us. Even in my mind, I could hear Rose's screams echoing in me. Her screams of pain...and those Strigoi were enjoying it.

"Dimitri, you know better than I do that Strigoi can easily get to us at night. We need to stop somewhere," Alberta tried again, hoping to make me calm down. But nothing could calm me down right now, not when Rose's life was at stake like this. "Dimitri, do this for Rose. She wouldn't want Lissa to get hurt by Strigoi now, not when she's already trying to protect her in her own way."

I glanced sideways at her for a second and she looked sympathetic, like she knew that doing this would be hard on me. And it is. Stopping for the night meant that we'd be wasting time and Rose would be in even more danger. Who knew what would happen if we stopped? Would Rose make it through the night? No…she would survive. That's the problem. If she survived the night, she might not survive the day.

But Rose would want us to protect Lissa. No matter what happened.

This was probably the hardest choice I had to make, but it had to be done. To protect the others or drive to find Rose, wherever she was? Rose would want us to protect everyone here. _Do this for Rose._ She would want it no other way...

Sighing, I followed the signs to the next town and parked in front of a hotel close by. We all tried to get rooms close by and were fortunately successful. Most of the guardians stationed themselves outside Lissa, Christian, and Adrian's rooms, all three of them standing beside one another. The sight reassured me, if only by a small margin.

After I entered my room, I sat on my bed and placed my head in my hands. My thoughts revolved around Rose. I imagined her smile, her smartass attitude, those deep eyes...all of the training sessions we'd had, our kisses...

But then those images turned dark. Rose was now tied to a chair, cut and bruised. Her head was bowed, preventing me from seeing her face. But I could tell she was hurt. Badly hurt. I couldn't even begin to imagine what sort of torture she was going through at the moment. Of course, Adrian had told us, but it was unreal. What if we would be too late...?

Oh, Roza... Brave Roza... Please be alive...

**Lissa's Point of View**

The minute Janine gave me my room key, I immediately went inside, laid on the bed, and sobbed uncontrollably. Poor Rose... What a bitch I had been to her and she would still protect me even after everything? If I were in her position, I wouldn't have done what she's doing for me right now. But she was. All for me...

Suddenly, a knock came to my door. I didn't want to get up, just keep on sobbing into my coverlet, but it was rude to keep whoever was on the other side waiting. Sluggishly standing up, I wiped my tears and went to the door to find Adrian waiting outside, his face melancholic. One look at my face made his expression turn even sadder.

"You really do feel guilty, don't you, cousin?" he asked, entering my room without permission.

The guardian stationed in my room made her way to the balcony and closed the door behind her, giving us some privacy. I also noted that there was another guardian standing outside my room. I knew the humans would be curious as to why, but it was necessary to protect us.

"What do you think? She's my best friend and she's getting hurt for me. How do you _think_ I feel?!" I replied, my anger boiling. My guilt had kept eating at me since I'd heard Rose was taken and hearing everything that she's going through was only making it worse. And Adrian wasn't helping.

Adrian kept his eyes on me as he went to sit on the end of my bed. But what he asked me next completely shocked me. "If it was anyone other than Rose, any other friend of yours, would you go and save them?"

My answer was immediate. "If it was someone I cared for, I would try, yes."

And it was true. Rose was the first person I would do anything for, but anyone else, I would try and do everything I could as well. Everyone mattered.

"I would sacrifice anything for Rose because she's not just my friend. She's my best friend and practically my sister, and I just want to apologize to her...make everything right again."

Sitting down beside him, Adrian placed his hand on mine and stroked it softly, trying to comfort me. Somehow, I wished it was Christian, but anyone who could try and calm me would work at this point.

Looking over at Adrian, a few tears fell down my face silently. "Why would they do this to her...?"

"Because Strigoi are cruel. And this one especially is. He's impatient because she's not giving him what he wants. Gabriel thinks that hurting her to such an extent will make her crack," Adrian said, making my tears flow even harder down my face.

_He thinks that hurting her to such an extent will make her crack._

But it won't. It would never. Rose was determined, and pain of this magnitude wouldn't make her say anything. All for me... "We'll find her. We'll do whatever we can to bring her back safely. But..."

"But what?" Panic started to course through me.

"We'll have to do some serious healing if he keeps hurting her like he is," Adrian said, turning his attention to me.

Images of Rose's hurt body came in my mind. Oh God... She was doing this all for me. I knew she wanted to protect me no matter what, but this was too much. Too much pain for anyone. I can't keep sacrificing Rose's life like this. I—

"She feels that she needs to do this, you know," Adrian said, pulling me out of my guilt.

"She can't keep doing this, not for me," I said, letting the tears spill out.

"It's a guardian's job," the guardian—who happens to be Alberta guarding me tonight—said as she came back into the room, having heard the conversation I'm guessing and now choosing to interfere. "We protect you, that's our job. That's what Rose knows as well."

"But not like this! Rose shouldn't have to sacrifice herself like this for me! Not after what I told her," I said, my voice strained at the end. My words to Rose before she was taken replayed in my mind now, my guilt increasing.

"Every guardian would sacrifice themselves for the people they love. In this case, Rose made her choice to protect you. Rose chose to give herself up for your safety. They come first. That's what we were taught and she is following that motto. "But if we do find her alive...it'll be a miracle."

"She deserves something if she survives, which she will," I said, mostly talking to myself. "I'm sure anyone would start talking if they suffered through that much torture."

"I really don't know how she is doing it, but she's quite incredible. Everyone knows that," Alberta said, leaning against the wall.

"She sure is..." Adrian said with a small sigh, deciding to go outside and smoke on the patio. My eyes stayed glued to my lap, realizing that everyone was right. Rose was incredible. And she was determined...

_My sister's incredible,_ I thought proudly. Adrian finished his cigarette and decided to leave a few moments later.

**Dimitri's Point of View**

We left early the next morning, having given the Moroi enough time to rest, all of us up at the crack of dawn when the Strigoi wouldn't dare go out in the sun as they were afraid to get burned. Adrian was now trying to get into Rose's dreams again, just in case she was still unconscious, or Gabriel had decided to visit her again, which I hope he hadn't.

_Roza… I'm coming. Just hang on,_ I thought while we drove again toward Rose.

**So, seeing as I gave you guys a Dimitri POV, does this mean that you guys are happy? Sad? Let me know in some REVIEWS what you guys thought of the chapter. **

**Mortal-paralight**

8


	9. The Second Visit

**Alright, so here is the new chapter for this story. It's longer than the other one, so it should give you guys something to read. Thanks again to my beta/sister, DragonGirl323, for editing this chapter. She is doing a marvellous job doing so.**

**Also, I've made this Facebook page in hopes to attract more people to read my stories and get more notice about when I update and such, so here is my link: **

**(Facebook dot com)**/ #! / MortalParalight **(remove the spaces and please fill in the blanks that are written there, i.e.. (Facebook dot com) is the address of Facebook)**

**So now, without further ado, please READ AND REVIEW!**

**Disclaimer = I don't own Vampire Academy or anything mentioned in here!**

Chapter 8

The Second Visit

**Rose's Point of View**

My vision was blurry when I woke up. I remembered seeing Adrian in my dreams, showing him what they'd done to me, and telling him not to come after me, which I knew he wouldn't follow. I knew that he would risk everyone's lives just to save mine. They wouldn't give up. For some reason, I was someone worth saving to them. But that wasn't true, not at this moment anyways. Lissa was more important than me. They should have Lissa as their first priority and then me, which would lead nowhere 'cause I would be dead before they found me.

And once my vision cleared, I saw Gabriel standing in front of me, a cruel smirk on his face.

"Well, good mornin', or should I say late afternoon, sleepy head," he said with that heavy Texan accent of his.

One thing that surprised me was that the nausea I usually felt when Strigoi were near hadn't reared its ugly head. Usually, when I was this close to a Strigoi, it was heavy and made me want to barf. Maybe because I couldn't really feel my body is the reason why I wasn't experiencing the nausea that must be there...

"And how are we feeling this morning? Better and ready to talk maybe?"

"Screw you..." I replied weakly.

I was surprised by how my voice sounded. It was so...weak. So unlike me. But it was because of him. Because of the man in front of me. And did he say afternoon? Could I have been unconscious that long? It must have been at least twelve hours then. And they hadn't woken me up for questioning... That was weird.

A small sigh escaped his lips as he began pacing. "I assumed that would be your answer, but I was hoping you would cooperate to avoid any more pain," Gabriel said, his eyes locking with mine. Those red eyes of his pierced through me, once again striking me with intense fear. After seeing what he could do to me yesterday, I had a right to be afraid.

"Well...keep hoping... 'Cause you're getting nothing out of me..." I replied sternly. Enduring all the pain in the world would never make me tell him Lissa's location, which would be pointless if she was coming here.

"Hm...how disappointing. Then we can easily return this food to the Moroi downstairs," Gabriel said, moving aside to show me a plate of eggs, bacon, and a BLT sandwich. It all smelled so good and looked so tempting that. I watched as the Strigoi reached for the plate and touched it hesitantly before pulling his hand back, seeming disgusted. His eyes turned back to me and he said, "Or have you changed your mind about giving us the information we want?"

My stomach was literally screaming at me to indulge in the food, but that was, once again, bribery. Food for information on Lissa. It should be an easy choice, but why am I hesitating? It should be very simple to answer: Lissa over food. But her words replayed in my mind: _Dimitri wouldn't have let Mason die like that. He wouldn't let me die like that._ It stung worse than ever. She didn't have any faith in me. But what had Adrian said in the dream? That she was worried sick about me? Probably all an act. Lissa doesn't want me anymore, not to guard her, not to be her best friend, not for anything...

But what would Dimitri do in my place?

He would protect her no matter what. No wonder she wanted Dimitri over me as a guardian. He would always be better than me in everything. She would be best with him and not me. All I could ever do was get people killed...and in my present situation get captured by Strigoi.

"I'm never going to talk..." was my final answer, deciding to protect Lissa with my life like Dimitri would. That wasn't the answer he was looking for and he threw the food in the garbage, then stalked over to me.

"I don't see why you have to protect her. She doesn't care enough to come and save you herself, so she sends her lackeys out to do the job for her. What are you to her?!" he asked angrily and punched me in the jaw, making my head snap to the side. Blood weld up in my mouth and I spit it out.

"You don't know her..." I replied weakly, earning a slap to the other cheek, snapping my head to the other side. My neck would hurt after this—considering that it was still bruised after the bite from yesterday—but it was worth it. "She's doing this to protect herself..."

"And your life means nothing to her? Isaiah knew that there was a friendship between you and Vasilisa, but I figured that at least the Princess would have the decency to save her friend," Gabriel said, punching me in the face again out of anger.

My face was going numb from the intensity of Gabriel's punches, but it was all for Lissa. Dimitri would go through the same thing for her safety. Maybe I should get even more lessons from him... It might make me a better guardian for whoever wanted me when I graduated. Or maybe not.

"But you know her location so, again, we can go at this the easy way or the hard way." Gabriel looked at his fist for one brief moment, then turned his eyes on me again. "Where is Vasilisa?"

Two Strigoi appeared and stood on each side of me, roughly clamping a hand down on my shoulders. So he was prepared to go at this the hard way, I see. "I thought I told you..." I said, spitting more blood off to the side. "I'm not telling you anything..."

Gabriel growled and punched me in the stomach painfully, making me gasp in pain and close my eyes. Worse of all, he'd bruised a rib with the impact. Not good. If he kept going like this, he wouldn't just bruise my ribs. He'd break them. The two Strigoi continued to hold me down—and frankly, the stakes that were still hooked onto my bones were preventing me from moving, so I don't know why they were holding onto me—as Gabriel punched me. God, this was painful... But I knew this was only the beginning.

"Wrong answer, Rose. Now, you know the consequence for a wrong answer. You'll get hurt. So, how about you give me the answer that I'm looking for and we can both end this?" Gabriel asked, staring me down.

"Never..." I panted, trying to ignore the pain that was going through me at the moment.

He didn't like that. Gabriel socked me once more in the face and I felt some blood running down my cheek. He'd hit me hard enough to break the skin. Great... Looking at him, Gabriel really was pissed. Obviously, he'd thought I'd comply long before this.

"You're a very stubborn child," Gabriel nearly growled, furious at me. "And I will break you one way or another."

"Like I care... You're not getting anything from me... I won't let you get to her..." I said as fiercely as I possibly could at the moment, which wasn't much. But it still got him angry and earned me another punch.

This went on for a few minutes, him asking me where Lissa was, but never getting answer from me, and every bad answer I gave him, he punched me powerfully. My mind tried to stay conscious, but sometimes, he would have to force me awake with a slap to the face. My body became more and more bruised and pain surged through me. He'd even broken a few of my ribs, making it somewhat hard to breathe. But he never got an answer out of me. At the rate he was punching me, at least half an hour—if my timing was correct, which it probably wasn't—had passed.

With one final punch, my face felt like it had caved in on itself. I didn't want to look in the mirror to see the damage that had been done. Gabriel growled and nearly screeched out his question. "Where is she, damn it?!" he asked angrily, grabbing hold of my chin and making me look in his eyes. My vision had blurred in that space of time, but it didn't matter. Lissa would be safe.

"I'll...never tell..." I answered weakly, which earned me another aggravated growl.

He took a small step backwards. "Fine, we'll have to kick this up a notch to get a straight answer from you..." Gabriel said before looking to his henchman on my left side and nodded once.

Suddenly, the Strigoi to my left tightened his grip on my shoulder and gripped my upper arm, and with a violent jerk back, he dislocated my shoulder completely out of its socket. A large scream erupted from my lips as horrible pain immediately surged through my arm. Despite my attempts to keep them hidden, my tears began falling down my face from the pain. It was just too much.

"Ah, finally crying after all this. It makes your torture even more enjoyable, Rose," Gabriel said, approaching me again. My left arm was limp at my side and there was nothing that could put it back into place right now unless one of the Strigoi was gracious enough to pop it back in, which I knew was unlikely. "So, ready to talk?"

Even through all the pain, all of this agonizing torture, Lissa was my number one priority. My heart just couldn't let her go like hers did to me. But...I did feel more alone than ever since she told me that she couldn't believe in my ability to protect her. I felt more alone because now I was actually alone here... Sure, Adrian came and visited me in my dreams, but it wasn't the same. Being here alone, enduring all of this without anyone beside me, it was hard. Probably no one had to go through what I'm going through right now. No one knew how I felt, no one would. The others wouldn't come in time, not at this rate.

But I still had to try and help Lissa. With all my might.

Panting and a tear falling down my face, I shook my head slightly, making the Strigoi leader even angrier than before. "How can you endure all this and still say so quiet?!" he growled, stalking over to me, but was stopped when a voice from outside the house shouted.

"Bozeman 241 pizza! Delivery!" the man shouted. A delivery guy...? From Bozeman? Bozeman... That wasn't far from the Academy! We were still in Montana. Well, that I knew of...

Gabriel growled and stopped in his tracks to look at the door. "Oh, for hell's sake..." Looking at the Strigoi, he gave them a cold look. "Make sure she stays quiet. If she even tries to scream, shut her up," Gabriel ordered before walking to the door, opening it,—I was surprised to see the reflection of the moon shine upon the door, so it was still dark outside. How long had he been torturing me today?—and walking to the front door.

So it appeared that we were still on the first floor and not in a basement. Odd. This was just a spare room hidden from the front door. And it was dark out...but what time was it? That was the question.

Gabriel had probably opened the front door because the delivery guy's voice rang in my ears kind of loudly, probably because of all of this torture. "Here's your delivery, sir. That'll be twenty-two, seventy-eight," the delivery guy said, his voice raised.

I briefly wondered why Gabriel hadn't closed the door. It was easy to hear their conversation and maybe the delivery guy would see me. But then again, this Strigoi was smart. Maybe because the room was in one part of the house, the delivery guy would be oblivious to what was going on. Anyone would...

"Hey, cool eyes, dude. Contacts?"

"I didn't order anything, you imbecile," Gabriel answered coldly, ignoring the last part about the contacts. Wow... that delivery guy must be oblivious if he can't see the evil in Gabriel's eyes.

"Are you sure? I mean, I know there are no house signs, but isn't this..." The delivery guy must have gotten the address out of his pocket or something, considering his pause. "3 Maryville Street?"

"No, it's not. This is number two, not three. You're looking for the house next door. Now get off my property before you lose your head," Gabriel threatened with a small growl. It was easy to hear the anger in his voice, considering what I'd put him through since yesterday. "Now."

"Alright, sorry for the inconvenience, dude. Have a good day," the delivery guy said before the front door was closed with a slam and Gabriel came back to the room, slamming the door behind him angrily.

"God, I hate this town... But back to you, Rose," Gabriel said, making my blood run cold. He marched over and positioned himself behind me, grabbing my right hand harshly. Struggling with my hands slightly didn't get me anywhere, he had too hard of a grip on me. "Now, Rose, either you can cooperate or this will be very painful for you. I will repeat myself one more time. Where is Vasilisa?"

He tried to remain calm, but you could tell that his patience was wearing very thin. What was he going to do to me now? When he knew that I wouldn't talk, he did the worst thing possible in my eyes at this point. He grabbed my fingers and slowly began to break them one by one, a piercing scream erupting from my throat with every break. But he didn't give me the chance to answer. Gabriel was so bent on causing me pain that he broke each of the fingers on my right hand, bending them at unnatural angles.

"Now, now, Rose. You can easily save yourself from this pain if you just gave me the answer I wanted in the beginning."

"Make it stop! Please!" I screamed, more tears falling down my face.

This was unbearable. I couldn't take this pain anymore. It was just too much. But he didn't stop. He moved to my left hand and did the same thing one after another, break after break. My screams pierced through the room and Gabriel seemed to enjoy them, considering he didn't give me a chance to stalk, not that I would have in the beginning. The only thing that passed through my mind was the guardian motto: _They come first_. Lissa came first. Even in this hell.

When Gabriel broke my last finger, another scream pierced the room and my voice rose. "PLEASE!"

"You should have known that I was serious. I want this information now, Rose. Where is she? Where is your friend Vasilisa?!" he bellowed, stepping around in front of me, his eyes boring into mine.

Every part of me was screaming in pain. I couldn't move any of my fingers or my right arm. They were in too much pain. Everything was. But that was the price I was more than willing to pay for Lissa's safety.

"WHERE IS SHE, DAMN IT?!" But there was no answer from me, once again, just his piercing gaze and the exhaustion that crept into me.

A large growl erupted from him and he slapped me harder than ever, nearly making me lose consciousness. He grabbed hold of my chin and it almost looked like he wanted to spit in my face. "You little bitch... You won't give me what I want? I'll make you regret ever keeping this secret from me. You'll regret ever helping her." And with that, he ran out of the house. What was he going to do...?

Fear crept into me as the time ticked by. I tried to struggle, but enormous pain crept through my upper body and nothing was accomplished. What did he mean? What was Gabriel planning? There couldn't be anything else that he could do to me right now...could there?

Suddenly, he came back carrying a screaming woman by the roots of her hair. And it wasn't just some ordinary human woman. She was pregnant. No... Gabriel's clothes and face were painted in blood and the fury showed in his eyes. What had he done?! And why was he carrying... Oh no... He wouldn't. He couldn't…

"You pushed my hand, Rose. Now, my plan got a little out of hand, thinking that I wanted to compel you to tell me where she is, but I can see that you're too stubborn. You'd fight my compulsion to the point where you would pass out. So you forced my hand. These people were innocent and you forced me to kill them all brutally. Their blood is on my hands and in me because you wouldn't cooperate. And this woman," Gabriel started, pulling the woman to her feet by her hair as she whimpered and struggled in his hold, "will die right here because you didn't comply with my will."

"Please...please don't kill me... I don't want to die... Please..." the woman pleaded, looking at accusingly. That told me that what Gabriel was telling her now was sinking in, that I was the reason her family was dead.

"Don't...please... Spare her..." I begged weakly, unable to move. That woman's gaze was piercing my heart and my soul, hurting me worse than Lissa's words right now. "Please..."

"Tell me what I want to know and she'll go free," Gabriel said, but I knew that was a lie. Strigoi didn't negotiate like this. They killed for blood and that was it.

But...she was innocent. So was Lissa. Lissa would be able to help the entire Moroi community while this woman was carrying an unborn child... She looked about six months pregnant.

"I..." was my only answer. Gabriel didn't like to be kept waiting and the woman wanted to keep living. She thought that Gabriel would let her go.

"Tell him! Tell him what he wants! Please! I don't want to die!" the woman screamed at me, begging with all her life.

It was either save Lissa and save the Moroi community at the same time or this woman... My gaze turned apologetic and a few tears fell down my face, and she knew I wouldn't help. She screamed and thrashed in Gabriel's arms.

"Have you no heart?! You let people die! I have a little girl coming and you're willing to let us die for your own gains! You deserve death and to rot in hell!"

"Alright, that's enough." Gabriel twisted the woman's neck and began drinking from her.

Her eyes didn't just hold shock, but they also held fury and hatred toward me. She blamed me for her death. Gabriel drank her dry and threw her aside, her dead eyes still staring at me. My heart was literally cracking into thousands of pieces. How could someone be so cruel? This woman hadn't done anything and he killed her to get to me...

"They were nice neighbours. And they died because of you, Rose. You could have saved them, but you didn't. Now, you have their lives on your head, their _deaths_ on your head. All five of them."

Five dead...? All because of me...

Tears fell down my face as he came towards me and grabbed my throat, squeezing it tightly. "You are really testing my patience. You'd rather keep that little Princess in hiding and let these innocent people die for her. You're disgusting."

"You killed them... They were innocent..." I gasped out, trying to get air into my lungs.

"And you have no one to blame but yourself. _You_ let them die. Not me. And I won't waste my time with you anymore. I'm done for the day, but tomorrow, if you don't comply again, I'll awaken you and compel you just as you awaken to be my slave for eternity. If you don't tell me where she is, your awakening won't be pretty."

And with that, he bit into my neck and drank until I lost consciousness again.

**So, what did you guys think about this one? Good? Bad? Could be better a third time around? Please let me know in some REVIEWS!**

**Mortal-paralight**

13


	10. Breakdown

**Alright, so I'm very happy to have gotten more than 700 reviews for this story. I'm glad that you all enjoy it so much. You can also thank my beta/sister, DragonGirl323, for editing these chapters and making this story better. So, without further ado, I'll let you guys read this chapter. We'll try and get you guys the next one soon.**

**Also, I've made this Facebook page in hopes to attract more people to read my stories and get more notice about when I update and such, so here is my link: **

**(Facebook dot com)**/ #! / MortalParalight **(remove the spaces and please fill in the blanks that are written there, i.e.. (Facebook dot com) is the address of Facebook)**

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**Disclaimer = I don't own Vampire Academy or anything mentioned in here!**

Chapter 9

Breakdown

**Adrian's Point of View**

We'd been on the road for a while and Rose was still conscious. Gabriel must be torturing her right now. How was she still dealing? Would she survive? She had to...

Lissa wouldn't stop fidgeting, wondering how Rose was holding up at the moment. Everyone was. They were all wondering if she was still alive. Guardian Hathaway had wanted me to keep on trying to use spirit and enter her thoughts, but it was difficult. Sure, sleep had been refreshing but it wasn't enough to get me back to one hundred percent if I kept using spirit. But this was for Rose and I would do anything for her. Anything.

But, later on that evening, Rose's subconscious finally opened up to me. And what I found shocked me.

I had imagined Rose to be in a beautiful garden with roses, lilacs, and all manner of colourful flowers, but...this garden was burning slowly. Everything around me was glum, the black flowers and plant smoldering. But it kept flickering from gloomy to the happy aura that I had imagined in the beginning. Had Rose actually overpowered me in this department? Was it even possible? And what shocked me even more than the surroundings was Rose herself. She was sitting on a bench with her arms locked around her knees, slowly rocking herself back and forth. She was also trembling with terror.

"Rose..." I whispered, catching her attention even though I didn't think my voice was loud enough for her to hear. She wasn't stable right now. Something had happened and made her this horrified. Yes, horrified. There was nothing but horror in her eyes. Rushing over, I sat down slowly beside her and tried to get a good read on her. What had he done to her...? She looked horrible and scared. "Oh, Rose..."

"Adrian..." Her voice was hoarse, strained almost. Like it took everything she had not to swallow herself up again.

"How...how are you holding up?" I knew it was a stupid question, but it was the only thing I could ask without giving into the temptation to bring her closer to me, which was a desperate need of mine, especially with how she looked right now.

Rose closed her eyes and shook her head slowly. She was wearing a plain black tank top and blue jeans, obviously not how she looked right now. Her _nazar_ was hanging from a chair on her neck this time. And the dream kept changing from a burning garden to its peaceful, colorful state.

Finally, Rose spoke up again, her voice pained and horrified. "I can't do this anymore, Adrian... I'm about to give in... All this pain... I can't take it anymore..."

Unable to fight the urge anymore, I finally pulled her to me, and she began crying into my chest, her hands clutching my shirt. I wanted so badly to do this in real life, hold her to me and make this nightmare of hers stop. I tried to soothe her, but Rose was clearly unstable. I'd never seen her so weak and vulnerable before. More importantly, I'd never seen Rose _cry_ before. But all of this pain, it was normal for her to let it out. She clung to me and continued to cry.

"I'm here, Rose... Everything'll be alright... We'll get you out soon..." was what I kept telling her but, unsure if my words were reaching her or not, she kept crying.

My hand stroked her back softly as she sobbed and after a few minutes, she calmed down enough to tell me what was in her heart. "I feel so alone... All this pain… I'm alone..." Rose said, her voice breaking.

"You're not alone, little dhampir. I'm here. We're here. We're coming to get you. We'll be there soon. You won't have to go through anymore pain soon," I said, hoping to reassure her, but it didn't seem to help.

"I told you not to come..."

"And I didn't listen."

"You should have..."

"But you want us to come save you."

Rose stayed silent at that last statement. It was true. By how Rose was showing her emotions right now, it showed strongly that she wanted us to come and get her soon. She couldn't handle this anymore, continue to keep Lissa's location a secret. He was hurting her because she wouldn't give in. And because of his persistence, she was ready to give in and tell him if he continues torturing her.

We'd get her out before it came to that.

"Rose...can you tell me what happened...?"

She shut her eyes tighter and tried to get the images out of her mind. All of this must be so traumatizing for her...to face them all alone. If she got out of this alive, God knows how she'll be able to go through one day without reliving all of this over and over again. We'd help her but it wouldn't be enough...

"Rose...?"

"Why did Lissa have to tell me that...? Why does she believe that I can't protect her...?" she asked, deviating from my original question. Sobs erupted here and there while she spoke, but Rose tried to keep her voice level. "I... I thought she knew... I would always risk my life for hers... Why can't she see that...?"

"She does now. After hearing what you've gone through—what you're still going through—she knows that you would always put your life before hers. I don't know why she didn't realize this before, but it's hit her now... I think," I answered, rubbing her back soothingly as she cried. "But don't worry about her, just worry about staying alive. We'll find you, Rose. Don't worry about that. Now, please...tell me or show me what he did... We need to know so that we can help you..."

I knew Rose didn't want to relive this, but she closed her eyes even tighter and was suddenly no longer in my arms. I was back in the room she was held in and began reliving everything she had gone through: from Rose refusing the food, to Gabriel beating the crap out of her, to the pizza guy...giving us her location?! I'd been able to get a good look at the guy. He was in his mid-twenties, scruffy hair and didn't really seem into it, almost like he was high for some reason. And he seemed to have ear pieces in both ears. So the guy was deaf and couldn't hear well, which explains why he was speaking loudly. The volume on his hearing aids were probably too low. No matter. Rose had heard it and it would help us. But then... then came the hard part for both of us.

After Gabriel came back, he had dislocated her arm, but was now...breaking her fingers. Rose's screams literally broke me in half. It was so painful, so heart wrenching that it was a miracle that she hadn't said anything beforehand about Lissa's location. But the worse part was when he brought in a pregnant woman. Her gaze only held accusation as she blamed Rose for her family's death. And Rose—it was evident on her face—was in pain. Emotional pain. And just like that, Gabriel broke the pregnant woman's neck, drained her dry, and left her with hate filled eyes gazing at Rose, even from her place on the ground.

Suddenly, I was jerked out of Rose's memories as she began to cry over seeing the woman's death and her accusing gaze again. "She died because of me... I could have saved her... Her family's dead because of me..." Rose kept repeating to herself. My mind was still reeling. All of that pain, all of that _trauma_, for someone who believed that Rose was nothing... All for Lissa. And the look that pregnant woman gave her…

_You deserve death and to rot in hell!_ That was far from the truth.

"You couldn't have saved her, Rose. She should have never told you that. That woman was only acting out of fear and trauma, just like what you're feeling now. You couldn't have saved her..."

"But I at least should have offered my life for that woman's. It wouldn't have made her death meaningless. I still should have tried... tried anything... Lissa's right... I can't protect anyone... I get everyone killed... I can't be a guardian... I—"

"Stop this. You are meant to be a guardian and you are meant to protect. That's what you've always done and that's what you're doing now. You're doing exactly what you were trained to do. And everyone is so proud of you for that. I'm so proud of you, Rose... You're incredible for doing all of this for _her_," I said, that last part etched with venom. My anger surged as I thought of Lissa and what Rose was going through for her. It showed that she cared, but she had no clue how Rose was dealing with all of this.

"Don't be angry at her..." How could Rose defend Lissa after all of this? The answer was simple: Rose was defending Lissa constantly. She was protecting her now and she wished she could take away my anger. "It's not her fault..."

Sighing, I decided to focus on something else and direct my anger toward Lissa in person. Rose had enough to deal with. "He's given us your location. We'll be there shortly. I promise, Rose."

"Where are you now...?" she asked, wiping her tears away. Rose had calmed down, but not enough. There was so much trauma that she'd gone through...so much trauma that would still linger after we'd saved her. "Are you far...?"

"We're in Mammoth, still in Montana. I can tell the others that you're in Bozeman and we can reach you quickly. Don't worry, Rose, we'll find you and bring you home safely," I said, kissing her on the forehead softly and tenderly.

"I..." It seemed as though there was something pressing on Rose's mind, as though she wanted to tell me something, but didn't know if she should or not.

"What's the matter, Rose?"

"Gabriel... He's growing impatient... He—"

"We'll get to you before he can do anything else to you, I promise."

Rose shook her head and continued. "It's not that... He...he threatened that if I didn't cooperate by the next time I woke up...he'd... Well, let's just say he'll finally have a new slave..."

Growling, I held her closer to me, feeling the dream begin to disappear slowly. "I won't let that happen, Rose. _We_ won't let that happen to you. I swear. But...what do you mean?"

It took her many seconds to speak and this was the last thing I heard from her before she gave in to her weakness and the spirit dream vanished: "He plans on awakening me if I don't cooperate."

**So, what did you all think? Good? Bad? Please let me know in some REVIEWS!**

**Mortal-paralight**

8


	11. Darkness

**So, it seems as though you guys are really liking the chapters that I'm trying to post weekly, and I'm really happy to hear that. My sister/beta, DragonGirl323, has been doing a fabulous job of editing these chapters and helping me learn from my past mistakes, so I really appreciate what she's doing for me. She truly is an amazing person, so if you guys want to read some Final Fantasy fanfics, you know where to head to! She has some amazing works.**

**As mentioned before, I'm going to try and keep updating them weekly, but if it happens that I'm swamped with school or work, then it may take some time, but it WILL be posted shortly. **

**Also, I've made this Facebook page in hopes to attract more people to read my stories and get more notice about when I update and such, so here is my link: **

**(Facebook dot com)**/ #! / MortalParalight **(remove the spaces and please fill in the blanks that are written there, i.e.. (Facebook dot com) is the address of Facebook)**

**So now, without further ado, please READ AND REVIEW!**

**Disclaimer = I don't own Vampire Academy or anything mentioned in here!**

Chapter 10

Darkness

**Adrian's Point of View**

Never in my life had I woken up from a spirit dream this shocked before.

To see Rose in such a state, enduring such trauma, it was horrible. I knew that if we didn't arrive and save her soon, our Rose would be gone...physically, mentally, and emotionally. She was probably broken now. It was hard to come back from something like this happening to you. But we would help her, no matter what.

When I opened my eyes, I saw bright lights in front of us and my car door was opened to reveal a worn out gas station. It was also pitch black outside, meaning Strigoi could easily get a hold of us. Were we safe here? Looking around, there were a few other stores surrounding the gas station plaza with dim light emanating from all the windows, indicating that we were safe for the being.

Dimitri was the only one in the car at the moment. The others must have stepped out either for a bathroom break, getting gas or just breathing some fresh air, which was desperately needed after being in the car for so long and because of all the tension that surrounded us.

Once Belikov's eyes fell on me, relief seemed to wash over him. "You're awake. How is she? Is she alright?" I knew he would go straight to that topic, but no one could blame him, or anyone else if they were in his place the minute my eyes opened. They wanted to know if Rose was alive.

Shaking my head, he looked panicked. "She's getting worse. It took a long time to get to her because she's so weak and…horrified. What they're doing to her is horrible. And…Rose was unstable in the dream. Very unstable," I explained, my words making him shake in anger toward the Strigoi who were doing this to Rose.

And again, I couldn't blame him. I was surging with boiling anger myself that wanted to burst out of me, but it wasn't just directed at the Strigoi. It was also directed to Lissa. Seeing her would make all of that pent up anger in me blow, which meant I had to try and avoid her until my anger died down.

"Has she any—"

Suddenly, Belikov's voice faded into the back of my mind, his words meaningless when Lissa came into view, walking in front of Christian and Alberta. Guardian Hathaway was nearly done putting gas in the car, but my eyes were centered on Lissa. Rose's words kept replaying in my mind.

_Why did Lissa have to tell me that...? Why does she believe that I can't protect her...?_ Rose had said while tears fell down her face in the dream._ I... I thought she knew... I would always risk my life for hers... Why can't she see that...? _

Yes, why couldn't Lissa see that? Was she that blinded by her own guilt to see that Rose was suffering to the point of death for her? Rose was right. This was all an act. Rose was doing this all for nothing.

Lissa saw me and started rushing toward me as I got out of the car, my anger starting to rise slowly but surely. "How is she? Is she alright? Please tell me Rose is alright..." Lissa pleaded, looking me straight in the eyes. All she could think of was her fake concern for Rose. "Please, Adrian! You have to tell me that she's still alright! Please!"

That drove me over the edge.

_Lissa's right... I can't protect anyone... I get everyone killed... I can't be a guardian..._

Rose believed that she couldn't protect anyone, all because Lissa had planted that thought in her head and no one was saving her now.

_Lissa's right..._

Oh, that was a load of bullshit. This girl in front of me, the last Dragomir of her family, was definitely wrong. My hand clenched into a fist and, out of anger, I swung at her face.

What I hadn't expected—or maybe I did, but didn't realize it right away—was Christian taking the fall for her. He quickly stepped in front of Lissa, causing my fist to collide with his shoulder.

It would have been a perfect aim for Lissa's cheek had Christian not stepped in and made the shot meaningless. Out of nowhere, Guardian Hathaway had my arms pinned my back, restraining me as I struggled, trying to get to Lissa.

"What the hell has gotten into you?!" Christian explained, shielding Lissa from me. It didn't look like my shot had hurt him at all, but his girlfriend was definitely in shock at my violent outburst.

Still struggling, a growl emanated from deep in my chest when I spoke for the first time since being inside the car. "You don't care for Rose. You don't care about what happens to her! You only care about your precious life and she's ready to throw hers away for nothing! She trusted you to remain faithful to her and believe that she would protect you with everything she has and you just threw it away with that crap that you told her!" I shouted, my thoughts turning dark and angry.

"That's not true! I trust her with my entire life! Rose is more important to me than anything else in this world! She and Christian are my life!" Lissa said, quickly defending herself and, in her tone, somehow a part of me felt that she was being sincere and truthful.

Nonetheless, my anger rose again. "You have no idea what kind of trauma she's going through right now because she believes she can't protect anyone! Ever since you've met Rose, you've basically taken her for granted, haven't you?!"

"No! I would never—"

"You dare lie to me…" Actually, her aura told me that she was confused about this matter, not sure if she had taken Rose for granted or not. But something was taking over my emotions, making me angrier than ever. "Ever stop to think that Rose is about to be awakened because she isn't telling him what he wants to hear? Because she's too damn loyal to you to risk your life, she's about to become the undead! _All for you!_"

Lissa's eyes widened and her hand flew up to her mouth, her eyes brimming with fresh tears now. She couldn't believe it. All of those hours, just wondering what was going to happen to Rose, and we finally found out. But it wasn't what we were expecting. It wasn't what Lissa was expecting.

"Wh…what…?" Alberta stammered, completely taken off guard by this news.

I couldn't see Belikov's face right now, but I knew it must be raging. Everyone else was shocked into silence. Even Guardian Hathaway's movements stopped. She was too stunned.

Nodding, my eyes turned back to Lissa, who now had Christian's arms wrapped around her and her head on his chest, sobbing uncontrollably. "You wallow in your so called guilt while she's enduring all of this for you… Oh no, she doesn't care about the punches, broken fingers, dislocated bones, or even the fact that she has trouble _breathing_ because of her broken ribs! For some reason, she cares only about your safety! Yet, you don't even give a shit about everything she had to do for you over the years!" I exclaimed, keeping my rage filled gaze locked on Lissa.

"That's enough," Christian said, his voice barely above a whisper, but still audible. I could see Lissa's aura get darker, but not out of anger, it was out of sorrow and true guilt.

"You know, she even had to witness a woman, and a pregnant one at that, get _killed_ in front of her," I spat viciously.

Lissa's face turned toward me and her eyes widened a little. No one was expecting that twist. Guardian Hathaway was obviously way too shocked at this turn of events that she even let me go. Shrugging out of her grip, I took one step toward Lissa, keeping my gaze fixed on her.

"You didn't see that woman's face when she was dead. But I did. And you know what her only emotion was? Hatred. Hatred toward Rose for not saving her. Gabriel killed that woman's family and then came back and killed her and the unborn child right in front of Rose. Can you even begin to imagine how Rose feels right now, or do you even care? Rose believes that their deaths are on her head. Ever thought that what she's going through right now is all for you? And just for you? No one else? So think about that next time you're about to hurt Rose like you did."

Lissa stared at me and couldn't quite comprehend the words that I had just spoken. Her expression was of complete shock, shame, and guilt. And she should feel that way. Especially after everything that happened…

Guardian Hathaway broke me from my stare when she punched the gas machine and screamed loudly, not out of pain, but out of rage. "How dare he?! He's hurting her and we're just standing here! What the hell are we waiting for?! God…that son of a bitch. When I find him, I swear to God that I will slowly rip him to pieces, first starting with his—"

"Janine!" Alberta said, snapping Guardian Hathaway out of her rant. Janine looked at her, but continued to pace. Finally getting a good look at Dimitri, he was just…still. Shocked and still. I'd never seen him like this, so defeated. "This is no time to act this way. We know that our time is running out, but we have to stay calm for Rose. Do you think she would want you to lose it like this? No, she wouldn't and you know that." Alberta looked in Guardian Hathaway's eyes and, somehow, Janine stopped.

I mean, she really just stopped moving and froze in place. All of her anger diminished—I think—and she looked away. And even in my periphery, I saw a few tears falling down her face. No one had ever seen her cry. Well, I know for sure that I hadn't. But it was only because of everything going on right now and I couldn't blame her.

Guardian Hathaway sat on the curve of the pump station, placed her head in her hands, and began sobbing, her angry expression melting away. Alberta walked over to her, knelt down, and stroked Janine's hair softly, trying to calm her as much as possible.

"I just want my daughter back…" Guardian Hathaway said, her voice pained and broken. Rose had such an influence on her…on everyone.

"We'll get her back. I promise you that we will, Janine," Alberta said, her voice soft.

"How? We don't even know where she is and… Oh my God…" Janine started saying and buried her face in her hands again.

The darkness finally left me and my mind began returning to normal. It seemed as though Lissa was aware that something had been wrong with me. What had made me say all of that? Seeing Rose in such pain and despair? Probably… She'd been so affected. And then something came to mind. Something important that I had failed to mention.

"She's in Bozeman, Montana. I got an address while she was being tortured," I said, meeting everyone's gazes. They looked hopeful now, to hear that Rose might be alright. "It looked like some normal home. She's being held in a normal guestroom, not in a basement."

"Give me the address, now." Belikov was all business right now. Telling him the address, he punched it into the GPS and his eyes widened with what he saw. "She's an hour and a half away. We can get there in at least an hour if we hurry."

Everyone exchanged glances, then rushed into the car, not another word being said. Guardian Hathaway had regained her guardian mindset and her face was now determined, no longer tearful. Alberta was just as focused and looked ahead at the task ahead of us: to save Rose. Christian had an arm around Lissa and Lissa… Well, she was shocked and guilt ridden. All because of me.

What had come over me? Sure, I was angry, but not enough to snap like that. Especially not at her, someone so pure as Lissa. I knew that she was already guilty and felt horrible enough and this… Well, what just happened was a lot. Did she deserve it? Maybe. Lissa and Rose had been friends since the beginning of time basically and this whole horrific turn of events was a large awakening for Lissa.

But my mind turned back to the objective: to get Rose out of that Strigoi den safely.

_Hold on, Rose, we're coming. Stay strong. Stay alive. For me._

**What did you guys think of this one? It's really getting into the thick of the plot (or part of the plot, seeing as there are MANY more chapters to come), so I hope that you guys are still enjoying this. So, without further ado, please REVIEW and leave me a comment about your opinion about this story!**

**Mortal-paralight**

10


	12. Arrival

**Alright, so this chapter may be smaller than the other ones, but the next chapter will be full of action and suspense. So, once again, thank you to my beta/sister, DragonGirl323, for editing this chapter with her busy schedule, and we'll try to get the next chapter edited soon.**

**Also, I've made this Facebook page in hopes to attract more people to read my stories and get more notice about when I update and such, so here is my link: **

**(Facebook dot com)**/ #! / MortalParalight **(remove the spaces and please fill in the blanks that are written there, i.e.. (Facebook dot com) is the address of Facebook)**

**So now, without further ado, please READ AND REVIEW!**

**Disclaimer = I don't own Vampire Academy or anything mentioned in here!**

Chapter 11

Arrival

**Lissa's Point of View**

My mind was reeling. Had…Adrian been right about everything? About me taking Rose for granted? Of course, Rose wanted to protect me and everything, but…at the risk of her own life right now? Was I really that heartless?

Adrian had acted angrily, but it was because of spirit. I'd seen it—no, I'd felt it—before. But it was always taken out of me, all because of…Rose. I never realized how much she did for me. She would remove the darkness from me every single time. She protected me mentally, physically, and emotionally, gotten me away from St. Vladimir's to save me from going insane, so many things… And most of the time, did I even consider saying thank you? No… I got angry most of the time because she was peeking into my mind just to watch over me. I got angry for her wanting me to be safe.

Just the thought of that made me sob silently. Everything Rose did for me was for my protection. When Christian came along, she reacted negatively toward him just to protect me and all I did was get mad and ignore her. Even when Mia attacked Rose with that 'blood whore' comment, she protected me. And I just took it for granted and did what I wanted. And now that Mason was dead, I had to go and blame her for something that wasn't even her fault… Never once did I tell her thank you for being there for me. I acknowledged it all the time, but never told her thank you.

Not once…

It was selfish of me to take advantage of her like that. It wasn't what a friend should do. Why hadn't I realized it before? Maybe it was because my mind was so preoccupied with my own life that Rose was pushed aside and taken for granted.

My life was perfect… Finally realizing how perfect it actually was made my guilt start eating at me once again. Christian was mine and yet Rose had no one. She couldn't love… Not while being a guardian. Rose was always thinking of protecting me above anything else. Why hadn't I seen that before?!

_Beating yourself up won't do anything to help her… _I thought to myself, trying to centre my thoughts on Rose. _When you find her, start caring for her for a change._

My subconscious was right. Rose should be, and would always be, my first priority now, especially with this new revelation that Adrian had given me.

Speaking of Adrian, he seemed to still be frightened by something. Looking at him, his eyes were wide with shocked. Spirit had taken control of him back there, which is what had caused him to scream at me and try to hit me. But I couldn't blame him. He had every right to do that, what with the way that my behaviour had hurt Rose in the past.

Adrian finally looked at me and seemed at a loss for words. But finally, he spoke. "I… I'm sorry… I didn't want to hurt you like that."

Shaking my head, I said, "You did the right thing… I needed to hear that, hear the truth."

He looked back at the front as Dimitri drove like a madman, weaving through the slower moving cars. They all wanted to get to Rose and we needed to do it quickly, before something even worse happened. Before she was…awakened. Even the thought was horrible. How could anyone turn sweet Rose? We just had to get to her before that happened…

"You were right anyways," I continued. "I do take her for granted. Ever since we became bonded…"

"Yeah, but I shouldn't have said it so harshly. I mean, sure, I was mad, but really, it shouldn't have been said like that. Rose wouldn't have wanted me to shout or try to hurt you like I did…"

Looking at him, he turned his gaze to me slowly. Horrible fear still shone in his eyes and I could tell that he really was afraid of what was happening to him. "It was spirit, igniting your anger. And I understand… I—"

My sentence was cut short when a small modern house came into view. This was it. Somehow, I felt a strange sort of tug inside me. It was Rose calling me… Or me calling to her. The white house stood in front of a dark forest, the darkness of the night around us making the scene even more ominous. And what was worse, Strigoi were in that house. They were hurting Rose, torturing her… They needed to be stopped.

The cars pulled to a stop a short distance down the street and the guardians immediately began to prepare, getting their stakes ready and ensuring they would be able to reach them when the time came. Janine had her guardian face back on, probably trying to forget that she had broken down earlier probably. Alberta and Dimitri did the same thing. Except Dimitri was still flushed with anger. Anyone could see that. He was angry at what the Strigoi were doing to Rose and he wanted to save her. Now was the best time.

"Alright, everyone, our main goal is to kill all of the Strigoi inside and get Rose out. Got it?" Alberta asked. Everyone in the car, Janine included, responded with a simple nod of their heads, their expressions stony. "Good, now we'll need you two to stay here and guard the Moroi until we come back. Got it?" she asked the two guardians behind us and they both nodded again. I gaped at her in shock, but she ignored me and started getting out of the car.

"You can't leave us here! This is Rose we're talking about!" I exclaimed, trying to get out of the car as well, only to be stopped by one of the guardians staying with us, both people that I didn't know.

Janine looked back at me and stared me coldly. "And Rose would want you to be protected, even after everything that's happened. Now, please, just stay here and stay safe while we do our job," she said and that made me remain silent for now. Janine nodded toward me and started running with the others towards the house, their footsteps virtually silent.

I hated staying behind and unable to do anything, but it was my only option at the moment. Leaning back in the seat, Christian placed an arm around my shoulders and tried to comfort me, trying to make me believe that everything would be alright. Would it be alright? Would Rose make it out of here?

_Please, Rose… Please be alright…_

**Dimitri's Point of View**

Janine, taking point, gave us signals to fan out once we were inside and waited a few seconds while everyone assembled behind her before entering the house slowly and soundlessly, trying to catch the Strigoi by surprise. And it just so happened that we had taken them by surprise.

The three Strigoi in the living room hadn't even seen it coming; we killed them in a heartbeat. Three guardians and three stakes to the Strigoi's hearts… It was the start of my revenge. Against what they had done to my Roza… And they would pay. They would ALL pay for what they've done to her, all the pain and torture that she had to go through at their hands… They will pay.

Mark my word.

We tore through the other Strigoi that were alerted by the commotion and unfortunately lost a couple guardians in the process. Luckily, we'd come with a large number, but it was still a loss to see our comrades fall this way. But everyone knew that it was for a good cause…to save Rose, one of our students. My student. My love…

Suddenly, we arrived at the door where Rose was being held, according to Adrian's information. There were two Strigoi there. Janine took one while I took the other. They tried to manoeuvre between us, but it was useless. Stepping out to the side, I used all of my anger against the Strigoi and pushed him to the ground and drove my stake into his heart before he could even snap at me. His eyes soon became lifeless and his body went limp.

Janine took hers down easily as well and we wrenched the door open, finding no other Strigoi in the room.

And worst of all, no Rose.

**So, what did you think of this chapter? Good? Bad? Well, I hope that, if you didn't like this chapter, you'll get a chance to love the next one. So please, leave a REVIEW and tell me what you thought!**

**Mortal-paralight**

7


	13. The Hunt

**Alright, everyone. So happy holidays from me and my beta to you guys! Hope everyone had a great Christmas. Now, I know this chapter is a bit late, but there are many things that happened over the last few weeks that took a lot of me and my beta/sister's time. So, at least you have it now. Hope you guys enjoy it, so please READ AND REVIEW at the end!**

**Also, I've made this Facebook page in hopes to attract more people to read my stories and get more notice about when I update and such, so here is my link: **

**(Facebook dot com)**/ #! / MortalParalight **(remove the spaces and please fill in the blanks that are written there, i.e.. (Facebook dot com) is the address of Facebook)**

**So now, without further ado, please READ AND REVIEW!**

**Disclaimer = I don't own Vampire Academy or anything mentioned in here!**

Chapter 12

The Hunt

**Janine's Point of View**

Rose wasn't here. DAMN IT!

Either the Strigoi must have known that we would launch an assault, or this was simply a set up to throw us off. Had Adrian been wrong? We were at the right address… She should be here!

Guardians swarmed past me into the room and began looking around, scouring for clues that would lead us to Rose's location or trying to determine if there were other Strigoi to kill, if there were any left.

But there was only one that I was interested in killing.

Gabriel.

Going further inside the room, I looked down at the floor and was momentarily taken aback by the amount of blood surrounding a small wooden chair in the center of the room. Rose's blood. Even the chair itself was saturated. There were also pieces of it that seemed to have been broken off, the jagged edges covered in blood as well.

Touching the rough wood, there was a thick layer of partially dried blood over a layer that was old and dry. These were the broken ends of the stakes that Adrian told us about…the ones that were embedded in Rose's back. There wasn't any other way of looking at it. My daughter had bled and suffered in this very spot, all for Lissa's protection. Kneeling down in front of the chair, my fingers reached out for the blood, wanting to see how fresh it was. Sure, the state of the chair indicated that she had bled here somewhat recently, but I couldn't determine how long ago that was.

My fingers were shaking as I stretched my arm forward. Practically my whole body was shaking. Rose had been tortured right where I'm standing and she'd lost so much blood to that monster…

Touching the dark red substance, some of it—actually, most of it—was dry, but there was some fresher blood mixed with the old. The blood clung to my fingers; it was already cold and sticky. Something caught my eye just then. Something familiar…

"Where are they?!" Dimitri roared, looking around wildly.

He was fuming for some odd reason. I'd never seen him this upset before. Why was he so angry? Maybe because Rose was his student? It could be... But somehow, I didn't believe that was the real reason. It must be something else…something more.

"She should have been here!"

"Calm down, Dimitri. Getting frustrated isn't going to help her," Alberta said as Dimitri punched the wall.

My fingers finally found and wove around the familiar object tainted with blood. It was the _nazar_ I'd given Rose a few months ago… She'd kept this all along. And it was covered in fresh blood. _Her _blood.

_Oh, Rose… Where are you?_

"Rose…" I whispered, standing up and staring down at the blood-covered _nazar_ with sad eyes.

How could anyone do this to my daughter? Looking around, I tried to find some clue I had somehow overlooked that would lead us to Rose and Gabriel, but there was only blood covering the floor and a woman sprawled against the wall, obviously dead and drained of blood. And she was pregnant… This was the woman Adrian had mentioned seeing, the one that blamed Rose for now helping her. Kneeling in front of her, I could see the bones in her neck were out of place. He'd broken her neck as well. A dark bruise had formed on her deadly pale skin, indicating where he'd bitten her. And those eyes… All they held was pure hatred. Is this what Rose had seen for the past few hours? Adrian had mentioned that she had been the neighbour. Was her entire family dead too because of that monster?

Standing up, my eyes went to the other guardians in the room. "Search around the house. They have to be somewhere. Also, check next door. If this woman was part of the community, her family must be dead somewhere," I ordered, and the guardians dispersed, trying to find some clue that would lead us to my daughter. Alberta, Dimitri and I stayed in this room while the rest of the guardians searched the house. There would be some clue as to where Rose was taken… There had to be.

"There has to be something around here somewhere… She might have ever been awakened by now," I said after a minute or two of continually scouring the room and finding nothing helpful.

"We'll find her, Janine. Don't worry," Alberta told me, trying to once again reassure me that everything would be alright. But would everything _be_ alright? In my mind, it wouldn't. Whoever this Strigoi is, he likes to see others suffer and I knew he would never stop. Not unless we stopped him ourselves.

Suddenly, a guardian entered, a horrified look in his eyes, but still managed to keep his guardian face on. Poor guy…he was a new one too. "There are four dead humans next door. All murdered," the guardian said, his voice wavering only slightly at the end.

"Must be this woman's family… I was afraid of that," I said, sighing heavily. Five deaths on Rose's head… How sick could that monster be?! When I found him, I would rip him limb from limb so that no one can identify him. He would suffer the same way Rose had. "Was there anything there that could lead us to Rose?"

"I'm afraid not. There weren't any signs that he had stayed there very long," the guardian informed us.

"Damn it…" I cursed under my breath, pacing the room. "Well, there has to be—"

"Everyone, come here! I think I found something!" One of the guardians screamed from a different room in the house. We all ran toward the sound of his voice and found him in the main bedroom. But what we saw was disturbingly shocking. There was a spattering of blood that was slowly running down the back window just above the headboard. And it was fresh. "I think this is where they went."

"Come on, it leads toward the forest. We need to split up and go look for Rose. She has to be around here somewhere." Everyone nodded and shot out of the house through the back door.

Once we were gathered in the backyard, we split up into five groups of two to cover as much of the forest as possible. Dimitri had wanted to be paired with me, probably because he wanted to be the one to kill Gabriel along with myself, so we went together while Alberta joined another group of guardians. Running through the forest, stakes in hand, we followed the trail of Rose's blood that was splattered on the ground and some of the leaves. It was faint and hard to see, but it was there. Rose's blood was our trail of breadcrumbs in the middle of the night.

Suddenly, a small cabin appeared before us in the dark woods. It was small and run down, as if no one had been in there for decades, but it was still standing. And a gut feeling of mine told me that we would find Rose there.

Looking over at Dimitri, he was trying his hardest to remain neutral, but I could tell that it was hard for him. And it was even harder on me… Rose was my daughter while she was only his student. But that anger I saw in his eyes, it was frightening. What would happen if he saw Rose? What would happen if _I_ saw Rose? How would she be? Would Gabriel have changed her already? These were all questions that ran through my mind as we rushed toward the door.

Giving Dimitri the signal, we threw the door open and barged inside. The cabin was small, with only one short hallway that led into the living room—which was probably also the bedroom. A bathroom stood on our left and the entry to the living room was on our right.

Dimitri decided to check out the bathroom as I went to check the larger room. What would we find? Would Rose be here? My heart pounded in my chest as I stepped into the living room. And suddenly, my heart skipped a beat.

Lying on the ground was my daughter, sprawled on her right side with her wrists tied behind her back. Her hair was spilling over her face, hiding it from me, and there were so many cuts and bruises visible on her exposed skin… Her clothes were ripped and bloody, indicating the massive amount of pain and torture. And she didn't seem conscious. Oh God…

"ROSE!" I screamed, running over and falling to my knees beside her. Dimitri soon followed me in a rush and knelt by her, his hands hovering above her head. She seemed so fragile…almost as if one touch would kill her.

"Rose…?" I asked softly, frightened that I had already lost her, and shook her arm gently, hoping that this wasn't the one that was broken. But she stirred and a small whimper of pain escaped her split lips, making me realize that I'd just touched her dislocated shoulder. It looked like it was still out of place and it disturbed me to think that he did this to my daughter… Instead, I cupped my palm ever so gently over her cheek and she stirred again, her eyelids fluttering heavily. "Rose? Rose, come on, Rose… It's me… Can you hear me? Say something… Open your eyes… Please… Please, Rose…"

"M…Mom…?" she murmured, her voice cracking and extremely weak.

Her neck was bruised and punctured from being bitten, the bite marks red and swollen. Stroking her cheek, I pushed her hair away from her face and saw for the first time how bruised her face was. He'd beaten her so badly. The only part of her that seemed healthy was her legs, which were also bound by flex cuffs. Rose's breathing was shallow and uneven, indicating she probably had a few broken ribs. Not good. But it didn't look like he'd awakened her yet. She was still weak and if he had, then she would have begun healing already.

"Wh—" she began, but I cut her off.

"Save your strength, Rose. We'll get you out soon. Don't worry," I said, stroking her cheek softly as a tear fell down my face. Rose had suffered so much… Wiping that tear away, I faced Dimitri and noticed how frightened he looked. It would be a miracle if Rose survived this…and it was a miracle I was hoping and praying would take place. "Dimitri, I need you to find some scissors. We have to take these off of her." Without a word, Dimitri stood up and searched the house for a pair of scissors or anything sharp enough we could use to cut through the flex cuffs. In the meantime, I tried to assess the damage done on my daughter's body.

The most severe of her wounds that I could detect was a dislocated shoulder, bruised face, bitten neck, and broken ribs. Touching her stomach ever so slightly, I probed her sides, causing Rose to wince and breathe even more unevenly. Her bones under my fingertips were badly broken, but Dr. Olendzki would be able to fix them, I knew. Moving down to her legs, there seemed to be a few minor cuts, but nothing serious.

I saved the assessment of her back for last and I'm glad I did. Seeing the state that her back was in was the most disturbing thing I had ever seen—well, maybe not most disturbing, but it was very bloody and grotesque. The two pieces of splintered wood were still embedded in Rose's skin, bloody and protruding out of her back by a few centimetres. These were the hooks that Adrian told us about. But how would Rose be able to finish her guardian training if they couldn't be removed? Would Dr. Olendzki be able to fix this? I'm certain that she would be able to, but it would be hard and difficult.

But more importantly, how on earth would we move Rose from here…? Returning my gaze to her back, I saw that flex cuffs bound her wrists as well, but her fingers… All ten of them were purple and bent at odd angles. How could this Strigoi have been so cruel?! Rose didn't deserve this kind of pain! And it was all for Lissa…someone who had mistreated her before she'd been taken.

Dimitri came back and began cutting the flex cuffs, slowly moving Rose's limbs so that he wouldn't hurt her further. I tried to keep soothing her, but a startling thought kept returning to my mind. Where was the Strigoi? Looking at Dimitri, he seemed to sense the same thing I did. Where could he have gone to? But the answer to that question didn't matter right now. Rose needed us. But how would we move her? Placing two fingers against Rose's neck, I checked for a pulse. It was there, but her heartbeat wasn't strong. Would it be strong enough to get her back home before it gave out?

_We need to hurry. Before time runs out._

Moving her might make her condition worse. But what could we do? Suddenly, my mental questions were cut short when Alberta and a few other guardians charged into the cottage. Alberta kneeled beside me, her eyes resting on Rose briefly before turning to me. "How is she?"

"Hanging in there, but just barely. We need to move her, but how?" I asked, stroking my daughter's cheek gently and softly.

Unfortunately, Rose seemed to have gone back into her unconscious state. Would she be alright to sleep? Or was it more dangerous for her? So many questions passed through my mind now that Rose was back in my arms and I was more afraid than ever of losing her.

Alberta looked at the guardians, trying to come up with a solution when a white sheet draped on a cardboard box caught my attention. It might have been a little dusty, but it would work to lift her out of here and get her to the car. Dimitri began stroking her hair softly, trying to soothe her while I went toward the sheet, grabbed it, and knelt in front of Rose. Grabbing the scissors, I cut a rectangular hole in the sheet big enough so the stakes in Rose's back could fit through without hurting her. When I finished, I looked at Dimitri and he looked down at Rose, trying to find a way to lift her without causing her any further pain or discomfort. Lifting her feet wouldn't be the problem. It was her upper body that would be the problem.

Dimitri carefully wrapped his arm around her shoulders and placed his other hand on her back while trying to keep his touch away from her dislocated shoulder, but it was difficult. And what worried us the most was that Rose didn't whimper or gasp or yell in pain. Was she even alive?

Dimitri saw my expression and said, "She's alright. I can feel her heartbeat, but it's very weak."

"Then we need to act fast."

"Right," Dimitri said, and lifted Rose onto the sheet that four of the guardians were holding up, one guardian on each corner. Once Dimitri rested Rose on the sheet, the guardians immediately walked out of the room, trying not to jostle my daughter too much.

It took us a little while to get to the car since we had to manoeuvre Rose through the trees. When we emerged from the forest, I immediately spotted Lissa and the two Moroi outside the car, pacing in a circle of guardians. When she saw us, Lissa brought her hand to her mouth and her eyes filled with tears one of them sliding down her cheek. We walked right past her, not even acknowledging her presence, and Lissa tried to get through the guardians to reach Rose, but the guardians blocked her way.

"Rose! Rose, please! Is she alright?! Let me through! Rose!" Lissa screamed, trying to get through. We knew she had the power to compel anyone in sight, but would she use it now to get to Rose? She couldn't…could she?

We put Rose into the car and I jumped in with them, not wanting to leave Rose for a second. The guardians and I placed her on her good side across the seats and I cradled her head in my lap, trying to soothe her.

"It's alright, Rose… It's going to be okay…" I whispered in her ear as we drove at an unbelievable speed back to St. Vladimir's.

Hopefully, Rose would make it…

**So, Rose has been found. Now, to those who either don't remember the story or have not read it before, what do you think will happen next? Will Rose survive? Find out in the next chapter and please REVIEW!**

**Mortal-paralight**

11


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